Shadows of something more
by ncisgirl101
Summary: After the wedding of McGee and Abby, the group retires to an offshore mansion for an after party of their own. But will it take the marriage of two agents to make one person realise what they really want? Will they make a huge mistake? Tiva, McAbby
1. Just the start

After the wedding of McGee and Abby, the group retires to an offshore mansion for an after party of their own

After the wedding of McGee and Abby, the group retires to an offshore mansion for an after party of their own. But will it take the marriage of two agents to make one person realise what they really want? Will they make a huge mistake? 

Not fishing – this is the WORST recap I've ever written. Please give it a chance. 

Tiva, Established McAbby.

_**Hello!! I'm back :P:P hehe! **_

_**Not much more to say then… well ENJOY!! **_

_**YAY for NCIS… **_

_**Who doesn't like Vance?**_

_**I don't own… but one can always dream. **_

_**OH! And I REALLY think you should all check out this fic (How's this… advertising something that isn't mine..?): **_

_**/s/4425592/1/RiskingLife**_

_**It is one of the greatest things you will read and I think everyone should check it out… Tiva of course… Please – humour me :P**_

_**Xox Mel**_

XXX

  
**Chapter one: Just the start…**

**XXX**

**  
**"How are you feeling Probie?" Tony asked as he patted the younger agent on the back, smiling smugly as sweat began to pour off him, beading on his forehead.

"What if she changes her mind?" he began to panic, fiddling with his hands nervously.

"She's not going to change her mind." he said, standing back to measure his expression. "Well maybe she could."

Just then Gibbs hit Tony across the back of the head, harder than usual. "Not the time, DiNozzo."

"I'm now fully aware of that, Sir." he said, standing to attention, his hand still resting on McGee's back.

Gibbs stepped forward, his face inches from McGee's left ear.  
"Do not let him get to you, McGee. Good luck."

Though it was only a small sentence, Gibbs' words meant every piece of comfort in the world to McGee. After all, Gibbs would know. He was the boss - he was the man who had been married four times. He and Abby had always assumed it was more however they knew Gibbs would never let up.

Gibbs walked off the podium and went into Abby's tent. McGee leaned forward and tried to peek in, feeling a sharp blow to the back of his head as he did so.  
"Hey!" he yelled, turning to Tony and rubbing his head. "What the hell was that for?"

"You can't see the bride before the wedding, McGroomy." Tony smiled, his hands set out in front of him in a defensive fashion.

McGee rolled his eyes and looked through the crowd of people filing into the chairs in front of him. He glanced toward a group of his old MIT friends and waved. He was still close with a few of them and one had been particularly annoyed that he wasn't a part of the bridal party.

McGee didn't regret choosing Tony. If he hadn't of there would have been hell to pay at work - he and Ziva would have made his life a living hell until he was forced to retire. Ziva somehow couldn't understand that there were no acceptions to the rule that only males could be groomsmen and attend the 'bachelor' party.

"Good Luck, McGee." Tony said in a sincere tone that made him second-guess who was speaking for a split second.

"Thanks, Tony." He smiled back, a new confidence in himself arising.

"I have faith that at least one of us can catch up to her if she tries to run." he added, walking off with one of his most dazzling - yet so god damn annoying - smiles.

Before he knew it, everyone had taken their seats and they were ready to begin. A soft spring breeze rustled through the trees around them and McGee smiled to himself, squinting in the night.

Abby never did anything to conform and her wedding was no acception to this rule. McGee distinctly remembered her saying that if she had to dress up in a white gown with white roses everywhere that she would be forced to kill him and -as she so often added- leave no forensic evidence,

So they came to a compromise, Abby would plan everything and McGee would pay. Well Thom E Gemcity would pay.

He glanced around the area, very surprised at how much he really did like what she had chosen - it reminded him of her. Not in the 'norm' but still so beautiful. He laughed to himself - she would kill him for thinking such sappy thoughts.  
A soft electric guitar started to play and everyone turned his or her heads, McGee smiling hugely. Brain Matter was playing the wedding march on the far side of the lawn. Lit by candlelight. He glanced around to the black and red themed area.

Black roses, black and red candles lighting the isle. It truly was Abby - some people would think it was strange or 'emo' (clearly no one knows the difference between Emos and Goths anymore) but he knew that it was what she wanted and though it was ridiculously sappy - he wanted what ever she wanted - whatever would bring her joy.

Tony and Ziva rounded the corner arm in arm. Ziva was uncomfortable in her dress and Tony was just as annoyed having to wear a monkey suit.  
A low echo of whispers could be heard as they walked down the isle, people commenting on Ziva's beauty in the black gown. It hugged her figure tightly, a second layer of red lace showing underneath the black lace patterns. At her waist, the dress fell loosely to her feet, a large slit revealing her tan, left leg.  
As the two walked closer to the rows of seats they were able to catch snippets of what people were saying. A small child tugged on her mothers dress and asked why she wasn't the bride which made Ziva smile, feeling slightly less uncomfortable in the vintage gown. It was odd having to walk with Tony; usually they had some form of bickering or joking but so far not much had been said between the two - Ziva had been helping Abby get ready and Tony had been causing hell for McGee.

"Oh look at those two together, do you think they're married?" an older woman whispered to - what appeared to be- her husband. He just shrugged, though his eyes were secretly wondering the same thing.

Ziva turned to Tony and judging by the look on his face he had also heard. He turned his head toward her and smiled.

They reached the end of the isle and Tony leaned in and kissed her on the cheek as ordered by Gloria, Abby's step mother and wedding planner; the two smiled as a few 'awws' came from members of the crowd. The two walked off, taking their positions at the different sides of the podium, Ziva not taking her eyes off Tony, the warmth still in her cheek from where his lips had brushed up against it.

McGee and Abby had agreed to keep it small and only have one groomsmen, a maid of honour and all of Abby's bowling nuns to perform the service with a priest. Though her work usually interfered with her Sundays, Abby still believed in God and have a traditional service - no matter how untraditional the décor was and the fact that the service was on a Thursday night.

They had decided that to be fair to the team - Tony and Ziva would be the two chosen. It saved awkwardness at work and also kept McGee alive. They had no problem with that selection - the two were going to be a part of the bridal party anyway had it been larger.

The music changed from a soft strumming to a louder Wedding March. Though they were heavy guitars and drums they still managed to sound good.

A few people gasped in awe as Abby appeared, two men standing at her sides, leading her down the isle and one holding the train of her dress a few meters back. The man on her right was her father - he had grey hair that was gelled down and soft eyes, almost identical to Abby's.

The man on her left side was Leroy Jethro Gibbs, his face set in the same hard mask it always sat in but with an underlying - yet unmistakable - hint of utter pride and love. The gentleman carrying her train was Ducky, his face filled with pride and joy for her.

Abby was wearing a white vintage wedding dress with cream lace set in an intricate pattern that wrapped around her body, falling down the right side of her dress. At the waist the dress opened out around her in a regency England style. All in all she looked breathtaking, her hair up in spirals.

Trailing behind her was her brother holding a matching umbrella over her head, the intricate lace pattern from the dress copied.

She got to the end of the isle and the three men kissed her, letting her go to her soon-to-be husband. Before she went Ducky whispered 'good luck' into her ear and kissed her on the cheek. When she reached McGee she turned and signed the three men; 'I love you.' they smiled at her and she turned to McGee, Gibbs signing 'I love you too' back to her, pride sparkling in his cobalt blue eyes.

McGee beamed at her, that stupid look that he got whenever he thought she looked spectacular appearing on his face. She smiled back and turned to their priest, ready to begin the ceremony.

**XXX**

_**Okay… Don't say it. I realise it's a bit of a slow starting one but I promise you it's gets better – a lot better. I really like this fic so if you'll bear with me here I will not fail you… and if I do then well… you can just humour me :P:P hehe!**_

**Xox Mel**


	2. Meglio stasera

THANKYOU ALL SO MUCH THANKYOU ALL SO MUCH!!

**You have no IDEA how nervous I was that I wouldn't get any reviews… FREAKING OUT… I think I was annoying my friends… but that's alright :P **

**It helps to listen to 'it had better be tonight' by Michael Buble when reading this – very boppy… and you'll understand it better. **

**Also just download it because Michael Buble is AWESOME… **

**Thankyou all so much for the reviews… YAY! **

**In a different note (and a non-NCIS one… since when?) Stephanie Meyer's 'Breaking Dawn' is released on Saturday. I suggest if you haven't already to read the Twilight series. You. Will. Not. Regret. It. **

**NCIS owns:**

XXX

Chapter two: Meglio stasera

**  
**"You may now kiss the bride" the priest announced after what felt like hours to McGee and Abby. She looked so beautiful that all he wanted to do was take her into his arms and kiss her.

He leaned forward - still shaking though he was very relieved she was still with him and hadn't bailed - and their lips met lightly and sweetly, tentative due to McGee's nervousness.

Ziva and Tony stood next to each other now, smiling as their colleagues - and friends - kissed for the very first time as husband and wife.

McGee and Abby smiled at each other as brain matter's music started getting heavier, the two taking their leave into a black stretch hearse ready to take them to the next venue - McGee had chosen this one and though Abby loved her heavy metal brain matter and plastic death they had both decided that it would be best to play something a little softer for the second venue. Tony had picked most of the music for there - Jazz. It would be Sinatra, Coltrane and Buble for the rest of the night.

To everyone's surprise, Abby actually had a great appreciation for the art of Jazz - she had played the double bass in a band in high school wherein they had won a 'battle of the bands' in their senior year, after that they had gone their separate ways.

Tony and Ziva got into the next limo-hearse once McGee and Abby's was out of sight and Tony squirmed a little.

"Scared of a hearse, Tony?" Ziva asked, clearly having fun with his discomfort.

"Well, Ziva, let's just say the only time I expected to be in one of these was when I was dead." he shot back at her, thinking that this thought was quite reasonable.

Ziva nodded and leaned forward into her bag, pulling out a bottle of champagne. Tony admired her cleavage, turning his head on the side to allow for a better view.

"Get some glasses, DiNozzo…" she said, lifting her head up as he snapped his away automatically, pretending he had been searching for the glasses the whole time "you can keep staring; that's as close as you are going to get to them."

Tony turned his head back to her face, meeting her gaze, a cheeky grin appearing on his face, sheltering a tinge of hurt. "You forget, Miss David. I have gotten closer in the past." he said, looking her up and down. "Why have you got that now? We don't have a corkscrew."

Ziva rolled her eyes and lifted up her leg, resting it next to Tony. She pulled up her dress giving a full view of her left leg where she stored a knife.  
She pulled the knife out and unscrewed the cork, smiling as she took a swig from the bottle.

"Classy." Tony noted, taking the bottle from her.

"Well you couldn't find any glasses." she retorted, her eyes narrowing.  
He smiled and shrugged, taking a mouthful of champagne,

"Well this is going to be strange." Ziva said, taking the bottle out of Tony's hand as he passed it back to her.

"I like it" he said, getting slightly defensive "You bought it, anyway."

"Not the champagne." she responded, narrowing her eyes "McGee and Abby."

"oh… yeah. Well… It won't be _that_ weird, they've been together for a while now." he said, his eyebrows turning up in thought.

"But what if it begins to change?" she asked, lifting her eyebrows, staring at the ground "Anniversaries, fights, honeymoons,"

"Babies." Tony finished her thought, for the first time seriously thinking about what she was saying. And she was right, things were going to change, it was not going to be the same if they had kids.

"Let me guess.." Ziva began, leaning in until her top was open enough for a clear view down it, Tony snapped his eyes up to her face, knowing that glaring was probably not a good idea if he wanted to live. "Glad it's not you?"

Tony narrowed his eyes slightly and smiled, "Actually, David, quite the contrary."  
Ziva stifled a laugh "Oh yes, Tony. Scared of a weekend away but now all ready to get married and start reproducing?"

He smiled and leaned in, their faces centimetres apart. "You do know the act that must be performed to reproduce, right?" he asked, his mouth turning up further at the corners.

Ziva smiled and leaned in closer until she could feel his breath hit her neck. "Oh. I know." she whispered, moving back and looking him up and down. "Still doesn't mean you are ready to get _married_."

Tony smiled, revealing his teeth and leaned back, resting his arms behind his head. "Well there's that." he shrugged

Ziva rolled her eyes and laughed, sitting back to enjoy the rest of the ride.

XXX

Ziva sat at the bridal table, leaning back in her chair. The speeches had gone well - Tony's had started badly but the heart-warming part at the end had left everyone with a disgustingly mushy feeling inside that Ziva in particular didn't care for.

"A-hem" Tony cleared his throat, all of a sudden standing in front of her.

"Can I help you?" Ziva asked, turning to face him. Though she would never admit it out loud at risk of his head blowing so far out of proportion that it would pop, he was incredibly good looking in a tuxedo. He was… sexy… yes, 'sexy' could not have better described him at that exact moment. He was wearing just his shirt and cummerbund, his jacket slung over the seat next to her with his bow tie messy.

Tony smiled and pulled up a chair, filling Ziva's glass with champagne as he took a seat.

"What? The famous Anthony DiNozzo has no girl yet?" she joked, taking a sip from her glass.

Tony's eyes narrowed "No, Ziva. I just decided that tonight I would make it all about McGee and Abby… I mean, McGee needs to have at least one day where he outshines me"

Ziva rolled her eyes. "Yes, I am sure that is exactly what you are thinking tonight."

"Yeah, you're right, the probie could never outshine me." he smiled, standing up and holding out his hand, his heart beating abnormally fast for what he was about to do.

"Care to dance?" he asked, smiling his most dazzling smile to reveal all his teeth.  
Ziva turned her head to the side, confused as to what he was getting at. Her eyes narrowed suspiciously and she stood up, taking his hand.

"You dance?" She asked sceptically.

"what? Italians can't dance?"

Ziva just smiled as they walked to the dance floor together, a more upbeat song coming through the speakers as they hit the centre.

Tony put his left hand on her hip with a smug grin and she met his expression, putting her right hand on his shoulder. He smiled crookedly and Ziva's heart skipped a beat though she didn't let it show on her face.

"I love this song." he smiled excitedly.

Ziva returned his smile and he pulled her in closer, his hand bracing the small of her back.

"Just try to keep up" he whispered, their faces centimetres apart.

_Meglio stasera  
Baby go go go  
Or as we natives say  
"Fa Subito!" _

_  
_Ziva angled her neck up and let a single snicker pass through her mouth, thinning out her eyes until they smouldered.

_If you're even gonna kiss me  
It had better be tonight  
While the mandolins are playing  
And stars are bright_

_  
_Before another word could be spoken, the pair began moving around the dance floor to the music, both internally surprised at the other's dancing capabilities.  
Tony smiled, staring into Ziva's eyes, they were sparkling a deep, rich brown. He dipped her down as the tempo changed, causing Ziva to laugh slightly.  
"Not bad at all, Tony." she smiled,

He just nodded, turning his head on a slight angle, picking up the pace. He was going to take her breath away with his dancing, he was going to top 'not bad' even if it took all night, and part of him hoped it would take all night - that way they could just keep dancing.

_If you've anything to tell me  
It had better be tonight  
Or somebody else may tell me  
And whisper the words just right_

_  
_Tony began singing along with the song, his voice deep and rich though out of breath.

Their faces were inches away and their bodies were touching. Tony let go of one of Ziva's hands and let her move out, pulling her back so she rolled into him, stopping for a second as they stared into each other's eyes, Ziva rolled back out and he lifted his arm, allowing her to duck under it, spinning twice before she fell back into stride with him.

_Meglio stasera  
Baby go go go  
Or as we natives say  
"Fa subito!" _

_  
_Tony's hair had begun to fall out of it's carefully gelled placing into a messy disarray, much like the one he had for work everyday. Ziva moved her body back into contact with his, a crooked grin forming as the dance floor parted, a small crowd gathering to watch them dance.

_If your ever gonna hold me  
It had better be tonight  
Or somebody else may hold me  
They may make me feel just right_

_  
_Ziva began singing along too, joining in with Tony. She had a sweet, melodic voice and though she sang up the octave, her voice was still very rich and jazzy. He laughed to himself.

"What?" she asked, now bored with their simple dance moves.

"I didn't pick you for the singing type, David."

"Yes but you are often wrong about women." she smirked, dipping into his arms as he lowered her.

_Meglio stasera  
Baby go go go  
Or as we natives say  
"Fa subito!" _

_  
_Tony flicked Ziva under his arm again, this time letting her whip around three times before returning to his arms, the crowd getting larger.  
"I think they like us." she smiled

"And still… the best is yet to come." he responded, pushing her away, for the first time since the song started, not touching her at all.

She spun out on her own, turning back to Tony, a smug smile on his face. She scowled at him, thinking quickly of what she could do besides spin. In a split second a large grin was across her face. She spun back to him and he grabbed her hand, dipping her down, she lifted her leg up his body and hitched it around his waist. He realised what she was doing and smiled, adjusting his arm to support her.

_For this poor Americano  
Who knows a little of your speech  
Be a nice Italiana  
And start to teach_

_  
_He straightened up, lifting Ziva up with him, her leg still hitched on his hip, he adjusted her position so her legs were on either side of his body, his arms supporting her back.

He pushed her out and flung her body to either side of him, swinging her back and forth - attempting a small lindy-hop - as the crowd grew larger and louder  
Ziva smiled at this and he flung her over his back grabbing her hand as she touched the ground behind him.

_Show me how in old Milano  
Lovers hold each other oh so tight  
But I warn you sweet paesano  
That it had better be tonight  
Meglio stasera  
Baby go go go  
Or as we natives say  
"Fa subito!" _

_  
_Tony lifted Ziva up and held her for a second, lying her upright against him as they gazed into each other's eyes, the burning intensity of the gaze too much for either to pull away. Ziva's heart skipped a beat as she felt Tony's heart against her's.

They held for what felt like hours, just staring with their faces millimetres apart. Finally gravity took it's toll and Ziva released herself, sliding down Tony's body, their eyes still not leaving the intense gaze.

The second her feet hit the ground a thunderous applause rang through the hall, Ziva moved forward slightly and turned away, dragging her eyes off Tony as she did so. She walked off the floor, brushing through the crowd to the ladies room, wondering what the hell he was trying to accomplish.

Tony stood in the middle of the dance floor as people flooded around him, couples dancing to a song with around the same tempo as the one he and Ziva had just danced to. He stared in the direction she had walked off in, wondering what the hell he was trying to accomplish.

XXX

**Okay – still slow moving, and I realise that it's slightly confusing but ALL is explained in the next chapter – it's not supposed to make sense yet :P:P **

**Check this out:**

**/s/4391954/1/ItsHardBeingATeenager**

**(Again – not mine… It just wins for AU… seriously)**


	3. Winding down

Hey all

**Hey all! Thankyou so much for the reviews – they complete my life. :P:P **

**This chapter explains some things in further detail so yeah. Please stick with me – next chapter we're going to the beach house. **

**Xox Mel**

**Chapter 3: Winding down **

**  
**8 months earlier:

  
Ziva walked into her apartment, her head aching after the long day of paperwork. She dropped the large box of pizza down next to Tony's keys and poured herself a glass of water, grabbing a few Tylenol from her cupboard.

Tony walked through the passageway to meet Ziva, hearing her throw her keys down onto her bench top.

"Thank God, Ziva. I'm starving!" he smiled, running to his partner's side, leaning down to kiss her passionately on the lips.

"I do not think Papa Gino's is going to take twenty minutes ever again." she said matter-of-factly, turning to open the pizza box.

"Ziva, did you kill Papa Gino?" Tony asked, sinking his teeth into the soft, cheesy triangle.

Ziva simply smiled lightly and grabbed the box, taking it to her couch; she laughed quietly as Tony's face sunk at the departure of the pizza.

She collapsed onto the couch, realising just how tired she was as all her muscles relaxed into the sofa. Tony came and joined her, wiping his hands on a serviette as he finished off his slice. Ziva's heart began racing as his hand brushed against her tan leg. He leaned forward and began kissing up her neck, stopping

Passionately at her lips. She felt an electric jolt go through her body as his hand lingered at her waist, touching a bare strip of skin around her waist where her top was pulled up slightly.

Tony smiled at this and deepened the kiss, using his free hand to throw the pizza box onto the coffee table. He moved the hand back to her face, moving it up to tangle it in her hair, the two now lying along the couch. Another jolt went through her body as he began unbuttoning her shirt - too slowly for her liking. She internally cursed herself, of all the days she had to wear a shirt!

Tony slipped the material over her shoulders, her hairs rising at the back of her neck, she broke away from the kiss, gasping for air.

"I thought you said you were starving." she panted.

Tony too was breathing heavily "Call me a liar." he whispered with a smile, leaning back in to join his lips to her's once more, his hands lingering at her waist, causing her heart to flutter into a wild frenzy. That was it - she needed to tell him - it was now or never.

"Tony…" Ziva pushed him off, breathing heavily; she didn't know quite how to word what she about to say. For the past few weeks their relationship had been odd - something had been off. It was supposed to be strictly physical but lately Ziva had been feeling more than she should for her partner, more than she originally intended to feel. The only conclusion that she could draw was that Tony had noticed her intimate feelings and had freaked out, not wanting anything more than what they already had.

"Ziva…" he responded in the same tone she had used. He knew that tone maybe just a little too well - it was the '_the talk_' tone.

Tony had been through many of these 'talks' and this was one in particular that he didn't want to get into - lately Ziva had been acting weird around him, like she wanted more than just sex, like she felt more for him than he felt for her. Yeah, the two loved each other - but Tony figured it was only as friends, as partners - putting their lives in each other's hands day in, day out.

"I need to talk to you about something…" she began, her heart racing. This was ridiculous - why should she feel this way? She was acting like a stupid, love struck _girl_… She needed to just spit it out - it was not right that she be acting this way over a _boy_. She felt about two years old.

Butterflies erupted in Tony's stomach 'here it comes…' he thought to himself.  
"The past two months have been…. An experience… But lately…" she stopped and swallowed, clearing her mind. 'what the hell is wrong with you?' she asked herself. "…Lately I have been having some… difficulties with this… whatever it is we have between us"

She stopped, measuring Tony's expression. From it she could tell that he knew- she was right about that much.

Tony sat staring at her, not knowing how to respond - he had nothing to say, he needed not to ask what she was getting at because he already knew.  
"What do you mean?" he asked after a long silence, deciding to press the matter though he knew full well what she meant already.

"I think I am…" she started, her heart racing a mile a minute. She decided to change the wording of what she was trying to say, having trouble getting it out "Lately I have been having feelings… I have tried to fight it but… I think that I am maybe in--"

"Stop Ziva." he cut her off, throwing his piece of pizza back into the box. "I know how hard it is to say those three words and I don't think you should make yourself do it."

Ziva's face dropped, she took a split second to recollect her strength and feelings, her defensive walls immediately going up, covering her hurt from Tony.  
"That is okay, I suppose I already knew." she smiled, hiding her pain - not a hint of sadness in her eyes. "I should go"

"Ziva. Don't. I'm sorry. Look come back I said that all wrong… Ziva - this is your apartment!" Tony called to her back as she opened her front door.  
She turned to him, her face showing no emotion.

"I know… but I have a lot of work to catch up on by Monday... You can stay here... If you want" she said and without another word she was out the door, not a single tear falling from her eyes.

XXX

Ziva splashed her face with water, careful not to let her makeup run. She didn't care so much if it ran for her sake however she knew if Tony - or anyone else for that matter - saw black streaking down her face they would immediately assume she had been crying, and that was the last thing she needed.

She stared into her reflection intently, eyes narrow, concentrating hard on getting that night out of her mind. It was eight months ago - she had gotten over it very quickly, removing it from her memory, not the whole time they were 'together', just that night - she and Tony still mentioned small things about their two month 'fling' without any awkwardness or sadness and it was usually fine but tonight had tipped her over the edge.

Why? She had no idea, her best guess was that it reminded her of why she was in love with him in the first place - when their eyes met at the end of the dance all the feelings she once had came flooding back to her; and with those feelings came the heartache. With those feelings came the memory of being crushed.  
What was he trying to do to her? The flirting banter at work never got her worked up but tonight was different - his face was different, like his eyes were trying to tell her something.

His intense eyes were etched into her mind, flashing up every time she blinked - those sparkling emeralds lit up with the excitement of the dancing and the tension between them.

'He was just staring at you - just dancing' she tried to tell herself, shaking her head 'get a grip.'

She thought she was over him - she knew she was over him, he had implied that he only wanted something to do with her on a physical level and -clearly- if she wanted more than that she had the wrong guy. She had wondered an uncountable amount of times if he had just pushed her away to get rid of the feelings consuming him, deluding herself into a story that he really did want her; however she knew that wasn't true - he didn't want her and she had gotten over that - at least she thought she had gotten over that.

Tony sat at the bridal table, staring intently at Ziva's empty seat, wondering if and when she was coming back.

Thought she hadn't said anything to him, he assumed something was wrong - and to a point he knew exactly what.

His mind flashed back to _that_ night for the first time in eight months. He and Ziva had never talked about it - they had alluded to the physical aspects many times in encrypted joking banter that always left McGee at least seventeen steps behind, but they had never talked about that particular night.

Finally his head snapped up and Tony saw Ziva walking back to the table, her expression the same as it always was - like nothing was wrong. Though in Tony's gut he knew something had got to her at the end of that dance and he needed to talk to her about it. This time they were not just going to ignore the problem.

Tony smiled internally; grateful for the fact that he and Ziva had to share a plane back to DC together - that would give them plenty of time to talk things over (though he had no idea when they were leaving or in what hotel they were staying.).

As Ziva got closer Tony's heart began to beat furiously and it took him a second to realise what was happening.

Ziva sat down and suddenly Tony was very nervous - he rode it off as a reaction to the incident at the end of the dance and glanced up, smiling one of his thousand watt smiles, revealing all of his perfect, white teeth.  
"You can dance, David." he said in an admiring tone.

Ziva just smiled crookedly, her eyes smouldering the way they always did, glistening in the soft light.

"You are not too bad yourself, Tony."

"Pfft. Not bad…" he repeated, ignoring Ziva as she rolled her eyes.

Slowly the lights began to dim down until the only light in the room was from the crystal ball in the middle of the dance floor - another decoration chosen by Gloria.  
"Time to wind down the party." Tony smiled, knowing and loving the 'slow-dance-to-wind-everyone-down-and-get-rid-of-people-at-the-end-of-the-night' tactic.  
"What?" Ziva asked

"You know; slow music, soft lights. It's every formal function's polite way of saying 'okay - time to sober up and get the hell out now'." he explained, proud of his evaluation of the moment.

"And how do you know this?" She inquired, raising her eyebrows.  
He stared at her for a second, the corners of his mouth turning up. "I'm Italian, Miss David. I've been to my fair share of weddings, baptisms and anniversaries."  
Ziva stared into his eyes for a moment, breaking away with a nod. "I will give you that."

Tony too nodded with a smile and leaned back in his chair, letting the soothing jazz music calm the moment.

XXX

**Hello there – I hope you enjoyed that! 51 days until the season 6 premier – what do we all think will happen? I think the team will definitely get back together – I mean, there is no way the show could survive without Tony, Ziva and McGee… After House pulled their 'long term change plan' all other shows learned that lesson. **

**Anyway – that's just what I think. **

**I hope they get some dirt on Vance. Though I don't like him – I think having him on the show could be cool because very rarely do we get someone to hate… (Jeanne being the latest)… (Or Holly)**

**Thankyou again for the reviews!**

**I suggest you all check out:**

**/s/4341842/1/TheBeachHouse**


	4. God bless the McGees

HEY ALL

**HEY ALL!! And we're here – the beach house :P:P Thankyou ALL for the WONDERFUL reviews! You know they make my day! 50 days until season 6 premier! YAY! **

**Thankyou! **

**Xox mel**

**Chapter 4: God bless the McGees**

**  
**Tony glanced down at his watch and yawned, 3.15am, it read. He glanced out his window, watching darkness pass quickly by as his eyes struggled to stay open. He turned to Ziva, she too was struggling to keep her eyes open, clearly annoyed with the chauffer's slow pace.

"Where the hell are they taking us?" Tony asked, turning to Gibbs and Ducky; them too dying out. "I thought we were just going to one of those hotels for the night…"

"Abigail said it was some sort of surprise." Ducky said, adjusting his position as to not tempt himself to sleep.

"The surprise better be a bed." Tony yawned, sitting up as he felt the car hit a dirt road. "Where the freakin' hell are they taking us?" he repeated.

"Hey DiNozzo." Gibbs said, taking a sip of coffee - 'when did he get that?' Tony thought before answering out loud:

"Yeah Boss?"

"Shut up." he finished, relaxing back into the large comfortable chairs.  
Finally the car slowed and stopped, Tony leaned over Ziva to look out her window, his jaw dropping slightly at what their surprise was.

A huge mansion sat around two hundred yards from them, over looking the ocean, not another building in sight.

Tony let out a low whistle and Ziva simply laughed - it was magnificent.

"well Timothy has certainly done a fantastic job in keeping this a secret." said Ducky

"Welcome to le palais de desir" smiled Billy, the driver

.  
"The palace of desire…" Ziva mused with a crooked smile

"Are you sure that's it?" Tony asked, turning toward Billy who simply smiled in answer. "Wow. I knew the probie was rich but… I should be nicer to him…"

Ziva laughed at this comment and turned to the driver once again.

"How long are we here?" she asked politely.

"Well miss. You get all of today, Saturday, Sunday and then you are picked up on Monday evening."

"Thankyou." she couldn't help smiling, staring in awe at the palace.

"How did we get off work for this long? I mean, what if we get a case?" Tony asked, turning to his boss who had a glint in his eye - clearly he too knew about the surprise.

"We are not needed. If a case comes, I have been informed that agent Branson's team can apparently handle it." he answered, turning back to stare at the mansion. He knew from pictures that it was beautiful but even he was a little in shock.

Sand lead the whole way up to the house, meeting five large, white stairs.  
"Do you need a hand with your luggage?" Billy asked, beginning to unbuckle his seatbelt.

"No, that should be fine." Ducky piped up, stepping out of the car, closely followed by Tony, Ziva and Gibbs.

"How many people are coming?" Tony asked no one in particular though Billy was the first to answer.

"It will be a party of around fifteen. We are the first to arrive so far. Enjoy your stay. I will see you all on Monday" he smiled.

"Thanks." Tony smiled, grabbing his suitcase in one hand and Ziva's hand in another. "Come on Ziva, Let's get the good rooms before everyone else gets here." he smiled, pulling her forward, onto the soft, glowing sand. The two ran across it to the giant, lit up mansion.

Ziva was first to reach the front door, Tony mere feet behind her. Taped to the door were three A4 sheets of laminated paper.

"What's this?" Tony asked, squinting in the darkness.

Right on cue, a large porch light turned on, causing the two to squint slightly in the sudden light.

"Welcome to '_le palais de desir'_" Ziva began reading, her French accent beautiful "17 guests will be staying in this beautiful 9 Bedroom set up, organised by my son and his gorgeous new wife. As you can probably already tell, 9 rooms does not entitle everyone a room each. So, to be fair; the following couples will be sharing rooms:  
- Timothy and Mrs Abigail McGee (until Saturday night when they leave for their wonderful honeymoon)  
- Gloria and Peter Scuito  
- Tess and Bradley McGee  
- Jessica Sammut and Oscar Agnoletti  
- Ziva David and Anthony DiNozzo  
- Amanda Simmonds and David Smith  
The remainder of the guests may choose the private rooms of their choice - apologies to those sharing though I'm sure the couples do not mind in the slightest.  
Congratulations to the happy couple…?"

Tony and Ziva just sat staring at the sheet of paper.

"Are you serious?" Tony finally asked. "They actually think that we're a couple…."  
Ziva just laughed and picked up her bags, pushing the door open. Tony smiled crookedly behind her and entered the large room. In front of them lay a large grand staircase. The two stood for a few seconds looking at it before they remembered why they ran there in the first place. Tony pushed past Ziva and ran up the stairs, trying to find the best room. He ran to the end of the hall and opened the last door, closely followed by Ziva who wanted to check out the same room.

The soft moonlight shone through the large window at the opposite end of the room, illuminating everything. They walked together to the large window and push it open, stepping out onto the balcony that gave a full view of the ocean. The sea air filling their lungs.

Tony smiled and turned to Ziva.

"Shotgun the left side of the bed!" She called quickly

"Dammit! I hate it when you do that!" Tony yelled, stepping back into the warm room, taking in the sheer size of it.

Like the rest of the house, the room was a light yellowy-cream, with white skirting boards, doors and windows - very beachy. In the middle of the room was a large king sized, four poster bed with the same matching yellowy cream colour on the doona cover and white sheets. Ziva sat on the left side of the bed (as shot gunned) and smiled at the sheer size and comfort, lying flat, her head sunk into the pillow.

To the left of the bed was a large ensuite fit with a large spa bath. Tony laughed and walked in, flicking on the light.

"Ziva - you have to come see this!" he called, beaming.

His smile faded as he heard no footsteps coming closer. "Ziva?" he called again, flicking off the light and walking back to the bed section of the room to find her sound asleep on top of the covers, still wearing her black, vintage gown.

Tony smiled lightly to himself and walked to the door, locking it so no one tried to come in and wake them up. He removed his cummerbund and got halfway through the buttons on his shirt before realising that he was too tired to give a damn, he moved over to Ziva's side of the bed and scooped her up in one arm, pulling back the blanket with the other. He placed her underneath the covers and smiled lightly, her skin was so beautiful in the moonlight.

He stood staring at her for a few seconds before leaning down and kissing her lightly on the forehead.

"Meglio stasera" He whispered, walking back to his side. He got underneath the covers and sunk into the comfortable bed, the whole while wondering why the hell he kissed her…

XXX

Tony woke up staring at the roof, taking a few minutes to fully recollect where he was and why his partner was lying next to him still wearing her black gown, her tan left leg on show. He sat up and rubbed his eyes, glancing down to his watch. It was 12 o'clock on a Friday afternoon.

Tony was surprised - not so much that he had slept that late - but that Ziva had. 6 was usually a sleep in for her so noon was sleeping the whole day away. He slipped out of bed, the warm noon sun heating his back as he bent over his suitcase, trying to find something to wear.

He finally found a pair of jeans at the bottom of his bag and an old OSU T-shirt. He grabbed his toothbrush and crept to the bathroom to get changed and cleaned up.

As the door to the bathroom closed Ziva woke up, not recognising where she was or the time of day she was waking up to. She squinted in the midday sun and checked her watch, five past twelve. She sat up and ran a hand through her once perfectly set hair, now a tangle of pins and hairspray. She got out of bed, grabbed her cargo pants and a black T-shirt and walked toward the bathroom - completely forgetting about the other person sharing the room - let alone who that person was.

She opened the door to find Tony on the other side of the glass shower door… naked.

Though she was shocked and slightly embarrassed, she still held her own, leaning against the door frame, a smug smile on her face.

"Ahem." she cleared her throat and Tony turned around, jumping about three feet into the air.

"Ziva!" he called, trying to cover himself up though it was too late. Ziva just laughed and walked to the mirror - now completely ignoring his presence. She began scrubbing her teeth and tried to sort out the tangled disarray that was her hair.

"Ziva…" Tony called, clicking his fingers to get her attention. She snapped her gaze up, totally unfazed by the fact that he was naked - she had seen it all before… "Can you please pass me my towel?"

Ziva turned and threw him the towel, smiling as he tried to catch it and still keep himself somewhat hidden.

"Tony - stop worrying about it, I am not looking." she said, staring at herself in the large mirror.

Tony just smiled without humour. "So what's the plan for today?" he asked, drying himself.

"I think we missed the plans for today…" she said, removing the last pin from her hair.

"But we still have time for lunch…" Tony added, throwing on his boxers. "That's better" he sighed to himself

Ziva let a small laugh pass through her nose, walking to the now free shower.  
"If you used all the hot water I will shoot you." she threatened, turning on the spray as she began to remove her dress

Tony simply ducked out the room, a guilty look on his face. He disappeared behind the door a split second before Ziva's knife dug into the wood where his head had been seconds earlier.

"I will kill you, Tony." she called, stepping into the lukewarm shower.

Tony simply sat on the end of the bed, smiling to himself. He stared at the door, for some reason fully aware of what was going on behind it.

"This is going to be fun…" he smiled to himself, falling back onto the bed. "God bless the McGees"

XXX

Hope you enjoyed!

This is the winning story for chapter four:

**/s/4317585/1/Alongcamemyaunt**


	5. Tommy and Lisa

Chapter 5:

**Chapter 5:  
Hey everyone! This is the confusing chapter… The one with the relatives - I figure it's not really 100 necessary to include them but I gave them just a small description and some dialogue anyway. However to save confusion here is a small table thingy to help you all (it won't mean much now but later when you are reading it may help):  
Abby's side: McGee's side:  
**Tom Amanda  
Gloria Tess  
Peter Bradley  
Freddie David  
Oscar Sara  
Jess

**Hope that helped a little! Here is:**

**Chapter five – Tommy and Lisa**

**  
XXX**

**  
**Tony and Ziva walked into the large dining room where a few people were setting up for lunch.

"Good morning Mr and Mrs DiNozzo… Well afternoon…" smiled a small plump woman with bright red curly hair; Tony and Ziva immediately recognised her as McGee's Aunt Amanda. And considered correcting her on the 'Mr and Mrs' thing but decided not to bother, it was better to just let them say it then go to the trouble of explaining.

"You two are the last up." came the somewhat familiar voice of Sara McGee as she walked into the room, holding a stack of plates. "I thought Tommy and Lisa got up early every morning to go for a run together." she smiled.

Tony simply narrowed his eyes and smiled without humour.  
"_Lisa_ wanted to sleep in."

Ziva narrowed her eyes and hit him lightly in the stomach, causing him to grunt softly.

"Tommy snores."

Sara simply laughed and placed down the plates.

"Have you seen Abby and McLayed yet this morning?" asked Tony.

"Good afternoon Mr and Mrs DiNozzo." McGee smiled smugly, entering the room right on cue, his arm wrapped around Abby. "Sleep well?"

Tony simply smiled back, revealing all of his perfect teeth.  
"Did we ever." he answered.

Ziva simply rolled her eyes and followed Sara into the next room, returning seconds later with a tray of cutlery.

"Lunch is ready. Timmy could you please go get everyone?" smiled Amanda, placing down a large basket of rolls and a tray of meat for everyone to make there own sandwiches.

McGee smiled and left the room, leaving Abby with Tony.

"Good night?" Tony asked, raising his eyebrows suggestively.

Abby just smiled smugly at him and took her seat, "You have no idea, DiNozzo."

"No idea about what?" Ziva asked, walking into the room, placing a large bowl of salad onto the table next to the meat display.

"Believe me, you don't want to know." Tony answered, mock disgust on his face as Abby's smug grin remained.

Ziva just nodded, a confused look on her face and took a seat next to Tony - she didn't even think about where she was sitting, she had been sitting next to him for everything lately - what with the wedding and rehearsals - that it made no difference to her anymore. Though as soon as she sat Tony's chest filled with butterflies and he rearranged his position, immediately feeling whole, like something was missing and he just got it back - though he never realised it was lost until it returned.

This did not go unnoticed by Abby who's eyes widened with curiosity about where the two stood with each other.

"So…" she began, her eyes thinning out in accusation "What have you two been--"

"What's for lunch?" Abby was cut off by the happy voice of her younger brother, Thomas; entering the room with a pack of ten others.

Following Tom was Abby's younger cousin, Oscar. Oscar was a tall, attractive, brown haired man - around twenty five years old. He had a strong, nicely shaped jaw and a masculine build. Wrapped around his arm was his fiancée, Jess. She had the same hair colour as him and was also very attractive.

Next in came Gloria, Tess and Bradley; all three locked in an intense conversation about the wedding - from the looks of things they had discussed nothing else all day.

Gloria was a tall slim woman with black hair. She had kind, emerald green eyes and was wearing a pair of white Capri pants with a matching white top.  
Tess and Bradley looked similar, they both had kind, heart shaped faces. Tess was a short woman, around five foot six inches, however her husband was around six foot one - explaining where McGee got his height from.

"I'm ready to eat!" Came the booming voice of a young man, not looking a day over eighteen. This was Abby's youngest cousin, Freddie. Freddie played football at high school and was aiming for a scholarship at the end of his senior year. He placed the ball down and ran to secure a seat next to Sara, McGee's eyes narrowed at this as he walked in, Ducky at one side and his Uncle David on the other.

Behind them came Gibbs and Peter, Abby's father. The two were speaking in ASL, Gibbs smiling very socially.

Finally everyone was sitting around the table and digging into the food lay out in front of them.

Once the impending rush of people shoving other's around for food had calmed, Gloria put her knife and fork down and cleared her throat, waiting a few minutes for everyone to stop talking.

"Thankyou." she smiled at the silence "Tonight at seven o'clock sharp we will be having a dinner party celebrating Abigail and Timothy's marriage--"

"Didn't we have a huge party for that yesterday?" interrupted Freddie, smiling.

Gloria just narrowed her eyes at him and continued "They are leaving for their honeymoon tomorrow so tonight we will congratulate them one last time before they leave." she smiled at Abby who rolled her eyes and turned to Tony and Ziva.

"A dinner party…" she began in a pompous tone. "Sounds positively delightful!"  
Ziva laughed at her friend and turned back to Gloria who apparently was not finished.

"The attire will be casual but nice. I hope everyone will attend - not that you can go very far if you choose not to, Some of Timothy's friends are visiting for tonight so I do hope they have a good time" she smiled, turning back to her food - now she had finished.

Ziva sighed and turned to Sara who was at her left.

"I have nothing to wear - I had no idea we were coming here." she whispered.

"It's alright." Sara smiled "A few of us are going into town after lunch to go shopping. You can come and pick something out there."

Ziva simply stared at Sara, her eyes making it clear that she only shopped by herself and when it was necessary.

"oh… right." Sara continued. "Well… not to sound too weird but if you give me your measurements I can buy some stuff for you - for the weekend."

Though Ziva found this idea slightly odd, she had to agree it made sense.

"Thankyou." she whispered, turning back to Tony, Abby and McGee, letting Sara talk to Freddie (who was clearly too young for her).

"What was that there, Zee-vah? Secret women's stuff?" Smiled Tony, shoving half the roll into his mouth.

Ziva cringed slightly at the unattractive sight "I just need clothes." she answered.

Tony's face scrunched up, his eyes narrowing in confusion. "You're going shopping?"

Ziva's eyes thinned out at his shock "No…" she answered "I am giving Sara my measurements and she is going to buy me something."

Tony smiled one of his thousand watt smiles "Reeaallyy?" he began, dragging out the word and heightening his voice a few decibels He leaned over Ziva and tapped Sara on the shoulder.

"Yes?" she asked, turning around.

"Two things…" He began, still smiling - flattering the younger woman. "First, lingerie, just lots of it. Red silk could look good on her or even maybe those --" he was stopped there as Ziva's fist came into contact with his stomach. He turned to her, a pained expression on his face "What was that for?"

Ziva simply rolled her eyes and turned back to her food.

"Second. I would like those measurements please when you are finished with them" He smiled, sitting up, quickly dodging as Ziva tried to hit him again.

XXX

After lunch all the women set out on their shopping adventure, leaving Abby and Ziva behind as the only two women. Bradley, David and Peter had also been dragged along leaving only Tony, Gibbs, Ducky, Freddie, Tom, McGee, Oscar, Abby and Ziva to clean up.

After clean up the nine remainders went upstairs to change into their swimming gear.

Tony grabbed a pair of board shorts from his suitcase.

"Why did you pack them? I though you said you had no idea we were coming here." Ziva said, packing her belongings into the large cupboards that were inbuilt into the walls.

"Yes Ziva, But I knew we were going to a hotel and most hotels have swimming pools or saunas… like I said, I've been to a lot of weddings." he explained, throwing on his shorts.

"oh." Ziva said simply, shaking her head.

Tony moved to the bed and collapsed onto it, forgetting how comfortable it was.  
"You can take my shorts - I'll just sleep here if you don't mind." he smiled, stretching upward.

Ziva just laughed, moving over to pull him up. She outstretched her hand and he took it, pulling her down. She fell forward, underestimating his strength, and landed on him, her face suddenly serious as she stared into his eyes.  
They stayed staring for a few seconds, wanting to pull away but at the same time frozen in position.

A knock at the door pulled them out of their trance, Ziva stood up quickly, moving back to her suitcase to continue packing her clothes away.  
"Come in." she called to the door.

The door handle turned and Freddie stepped in, his blonde hair carefully gelled into a messy disarray, he was clutching a football to his chest.

"How can we help you, Freddie?" Tony smiled, sitting up.

"um. We were wondering - that is, Abs, Tom, Timmo, Osc, Jethro and me - were wonderin' if you guys wanted to play a game of football? The old guy - what's him name… Ducky. Yeah that's it. Ducky says he'll ump for us. You guys in?"

Ziva looked at Tony and smiled, her eyes sparkled mischievously, "We are in."

she answered, still staring at Tony.

"Awesome. Meet you down there in five." Freddie smiled, leaving.

"Do you even know how to play American football, David?" Tony asked sceptically, pulling himself up to walk to the door.

"I know how to tackle…" she answered, walking a few feet behind.

"Figures."

XXX

Once they arrived to where they were going to play everyone was gathered around already, the field all marked out into the sand and ready to go.

"Their here, okay good." Smiled Freddy, standing in the middle of the crowd.

"Now. I say we make this one interesting." he began, captivating his audience.

"How are you planning on making this interesting, Freddo?" Butted in Tom, "You know me, you and Osc are fair game to the rest of them." he scoffed.

"Alright." Smiled Abby, walking up to her cousin, holding her hand out, he moved his in to accept though a split second before they met she turned to Ducky. "As long as all this is fine with the umpire" she smiled sweetly.

"Oh my dear, that is fine with me. NCIS versus the rest." he laughed, about to start a story about his youth though he decided maybe it wasn't the time.

"Alright then." smiled Abby, accepting Freddie's hand. "First to ten. Scoring one each touchdown."

"Agreed." he laughed, passing the ball to her "You can start with the ball, give you a head start."

Abby's eyes thinned out and she was about to hike the ball when Ducky stopped them.

"Team NCIS." He began, staring directly at Ziva "All weapons in this hat." he ordered, holding up Freddie's discarded ball cap.

Ziva rolled her eyes and lifted her backup from her left leg, dropping it into the hat. She then unattached her knife from her belt and dropped it in. Tom and Oscar's eyes popped out upon witnessing the weapons.

Tony and Gibbs followed closely behind, dropping their knifes in with her weapons.

"Rule number five." Tony smiled at his boss.

"Well done, DiNozzo." he smiled sarcastically "Good to see you actually listen to me."

"I always listen to you, Boss." he called, running back into position so Abby could start play.

"Hike!" she called, her voice gravely, she threw the ball deep to Tony who caught it and ran, dodging a tackle from Tom as he did so. Tony threw the ball across to Ziva who caught it gracefully and charged forward, sprinting over the deep line in the sand.

Freddie scowled and took the ball, gathering his team in.  
"Okay. They got lucky then but we'll show them how it's done." he whispered, starting the next play.

The game continued, the lead constantly changing. It remained neck and neck the entire time. As it went on, Ziva got better and better, learning the rules as she went. It took all of Tony's strength at one point to not kill Freddie when he tackled Ziva, his hand ever so slightly grabbing her butt as he did so.  
"9 points to 9 points." Ducky smiled. "Final play."

The ball was thrown across the field and Freddie leapt into the air, catching it securely, Ziva was hot on his heels, diving forward to tackle him into the sand, grabbing the ball and throwing it to Gibbs. Gibbs ran forward a few yards and passed the football of to Tony who shrugged off a tackle from Oscar and threw it long to Abby, she caught it and pushed her brother out of her way, passing the ball a few yard to McGee who held it securely and sprinted over the line - scoring the final touchdown.

"10 points. NCIS wins!" Ducky called, a smile spreading across his face.

"Yes!! We won! Take that Freddie!" Tony smiled hugely and ran to Ziva, lifting her up into the air and then placing her back down. "We won!"

Ziva simply laughed and ran over to join the rest of her team, shaking hands with the losers as she made her way over, drowning out Tony's celebrations.

"Who wants a drink?" Panted Tom, running into the house.

XXX

The women got home at 5.45, filing out of their taxis with bags upon bags of shopping. Even the men were forced to carry a handful.  
Before stopping off to do anything else, Sara went up to Ziva and Tony's room, knocking on the door.

"Come in." she heard a male voice through the wood. She pushed the door open and entered to find Ziva and Tony lying on their bed, both staring at the roof.  
"Just came to give these to Ziva." she smiled, holding up two large plastic bags and a white box. Ziva got up quickly and took the shopping.

"Thankyou, Sara." she smiled, placing the boxes down.

"That's fine, Ziva. Enjoy." she smiled back, leaving the room "See you at the 'diner party'" she added, walking out the door.

"What did you get?" Tony asked, sitting up.

"You will just have to wait until dinner." Ziva smiled, collecting up the boxes and taking them into the bathroom to get ready.

Tony simply watched her walk away and smiled.

"Dinner…" he repeated to himself, a grin planted on his face.

XXX

**Hello there :P:P **

**Sorry it's a bit late but it was longer as to make up for that. **

Thankyou for all the AWESOME reviews and I am just too happy with all of them! I am very emotional at the moment so most of them have made me cry :P:P hehe

Here is the winner for this chapter – I'm not just doing this for the sake of it – I actually think that you should ALL check out these fics. They OWN:

/s/4453245/1/LongOverdue

enjoy! Xox mel


	6. Grow a pair

**Hey all! Just a quick note – 'never go anywhere without a knife' if actually rule number nine. Sorry about that- I didn't realise I'd written that (maybe it's about time I got a beta :P) hehe thankyou all for the AWESOME reviews. They put a smile on my dile every time!! :P:P thankyou!**

**Here's:**

**Chapter six: 'Grow a pair'**

Tony got into his beige pants, thanking god he packed some of his more casual work clothes, he figured they would probably be called in for a case and it was better to be safe than sorry.  
He moved over to the large full length mirror that sat in the right hand corner of the room and checked his reflection.

'not bad' he thought to himself, smiling. He had chosen one of his favourite shirts, it was white with very fine green lines running diagonally across it giving the illusion that it was green. He glanced up to his hair and cringed, moving over to his suitcase.  
He pulled out a bright green jar and moved back to the mirror, thanking god he hadn't packed away all of his stuff like Ziva had.

Tony spent the next ten minutes carefully gelling his hair into place.

When he was finished, Tony glanced at his watch, it was six thirty, meaning Ziva had been in there for 45 minutes. He thought about that - it wasn't too bad. Most women he dated took about 3 hours so this was a big improvement but still odd for Ziva.

Finally the bathroom door clicked open and Tony's head snapped up, turning in anticipation. Ziva stepped out wearing a white sundress with brown lace spiralling around the hemming. It hugged her waist tightly until it got her hips where it went out around her. On her feet she was wearing white heels that wrapped around her ankles.

Her hair was blow waved out, curling slightly at the ends.

"Wow…" Tony began "Where's the lacy lingerie?" he continued with mock sadness. Ziva simply rolled her eyes and walked past him.

"Alright. Lingerie after dinner" Tony concluded, a stupid smile spread right across his face, following her down to the dining area.

XXX

Everyone was lounging around on the large, white sofas, waiting to be called in for dinner. Butlers brought around appetisers and soft, jazz music played in the background. Tony and Ziva joined the crowd as though they had been there all along, slipping to different conversations. Ziva found Sara standing on her own and figured she'd better thank her again.

"Thankyou again for the dress, Sara." She said quietly.

Sara smiled showing all of her teeth, "Well I'm just glad you like it." she beamed.

They stood in silence for a few second until Ziva caught the eye of a tall, attractive man with dark hair in a careful disarray. He had cobalt blue eyes and looked like a cross between Jude Law and James Marsden. He smiled at Ziva, his eyes lighting up.

A single laugh from Sara pulled Ziva from her trance.

"I know." She smiled "That's Peter, Tim's friend…. You should go talk to him."

Ziva spun around "What are you talking about?"

"Oh come on, Ziva. I may be younger than you but I wasn't born yesterday. Look at the way he's looking at you. And he's only the best looking guy – like- ever. Go for it." she pushed Ziva forward with a smile.

Ziva simply smiled flirtatiously and began to walk to the stranger, cut off by Gloria who had to choose that exact moment to walk into the room, a huge grin spread across her face.

"Alright everyone, Dinner is ready - if you'll follow me to the functions room."  
A confused look appeared on a few people's faces. Ziva scrunched up her face and turned to Tony and Abby who were standing nearby.

"What is a functions room?" she asked.

"It's a giant room where functions are held." Tony explained. "Something I didn't know this place had…"

"Neither…" Abby said "well… I knew it had one but I had no idea Gloria was going to use it. And, I mean, I should have figured that she would because she always does - not to say that she always throws parties in the functions room but she always goes all out for celebrations" she continued on one of her rants, Tony and Ziva just blocking her out, letting McGee do all the listening.

A few yards in front of them, Gloria opened two huge double doors to reveal a large room.  
Everyone filed in, taking in the set-up.

In the middle of the room was a small dance floor with two huge speakers to the left of it - soft jazz trickling out of them. Across from that was a large, rectangular table that looked as though it could fit about seventeen people.

Tony let out a low whistle and leant down to Ziva's ear,  
"This is a functions room." he whispered.

She just turned toward him and smiled, shaking her head, her peripheral vision gazing into Peter's eyes.

Everyone took their seats quietly, a small buzz of excited chatter echoing through the room.  
"So what did you boys… and girls get up to today when we were shopping?" Tess asked in her soft, melodic voice.

"We had a game of football outside…" Freddie answered reluctantly; he was hoping that no one would ask that question - he didn't handle loosing very well at all.

"Who is 'we'" Amanda asked, mainly for Peter's consideration.

"Oh. All of us. It was Tom, Osc and me versus the NCIS crew with Ducky umping." he answered.

"Bet you gave 'em hell." David smiled at Freddie.

"Actually no." Oscar piped up sadly, staring at the table.

"Team NCIS owned!" Abby called, smiling excitedly and holding up her hand for high fives. She turned to McGee then Tony, Ziva and Gibbs. Gibbs just sat staring at her and her smile faded. "Maybe later…" she whispered, lowering her hand.

"Well done." Sara smiled. "Did you get taken down by the girls?"

"Oscar and Freddie coped a few!" Tom called, sitting up excitedly. "We all know what Abs can do but Ziva can seriously tackle."

Ziva smiled smugly and leant toward Tony's ear "Told you."

"That's why I keep her around." Gibbs piped up, taking a sip of water. He needed coffee. Abby, Ducky, Tony, McGee and Ziva all knew that this was a joke however the rest of the family didn't understand what he was talking about - they had no idea how to read the humour of Gibbs.

"So… What did you ladies" Tom paused to look at David, Peter and Brad "get up to when you were shopping?"

Freddie and Oscar snickered and Jess punched her fiancé lightly in the stomach lightly.  
"Well we didn't loose, if that's what you're asking." Brad answered, turning Freddie and Oscar's laughter into a scowl.

Ziva laughed and turned back to Abby, McGee and Tony.

"The in-laws seem to get along pretty well." Tony noted, digging into the food that was now in front of him. "I mean, there's no food being flung across the table… yet."

Abby simply smiled. Picking up her bread roll and throwing it at her brother's head. He bent down to pick it up off the ground and threw it back at her, she dodged in time for it to miss and hit the wall behind her head.

Ziva smiled and turned to Tony.

"Remind me to never attend your wedding."

Tony got what she was saying and smiled back at her.  
"Agreed."

XXX

Everyone sat around after dinner, Soft Jazz filling the atmosphere. Jess sat up and kissed Oscar on the cheek.

"Let's dance." She smiled.

Oscar rolled his eyes and got up, removing his grey jacket.

They moved to the centre of the dance floor and began swaying slowly, waiting for others to join.

Right on cue, Tess stood up, pulling David to his feet followed by Gloria and Peter.

Slowly, the entire floor filled up until the only people left sitting were Peter, Tony, Ziva, Freddie and Sara.

Tony cleared his throat and turned to face Ziva in his chair.

"Hey, Ziva I was wondering—"

"Would you like to dance with me?" A music voice cut Tony off.

The two turned toward the voice and found Peter standing over them.

"Hi there." Tony smiled, standing up. He was taller than Peter by a few inches though Ziva couldn't decide who was better looking. "How can we help you?"

Peter took one look at Tony and nodded.

"I was asking the lady here if she would like to dance…" he turned to Ziva then back to Tony "Unless you have a problem with that." He added.

Tony pondered on this for a second, turning to Ziva. Of course he had a problem with it but she wasn't his to hold back.

"Um… no. No. Why would I have a problem with it? Ziva so you have a problem with it? That's fine dance. Go. Have fun, I'll sit here." He rambled, slinking into his seat.

Ziva smiled, knowing the exact effect this was having on Tony – it wasn't the first time she'd seen it. She nodded at Peter and walked with him onto the dance floor.

"What's with him?" he asked, gesturing to Tony with his head.

Ziva shot a look in Tony's direction and let out a small, hysteric laugh, clearly not willing to answer the question with words.

Peter too smiled and continued to dance with the beautiful woman whose name he has not yet gone to the trouble of meeting.

"I'm Peter, Peter Simmonds" he smiled, revealing his perfect white teeth

"Ziva David." She nodded, letting him pull her in closer for the slow dance.

Tony simply sat watching, staring daggers at Peter's back – wondering why the hell he couldn't just grow some balls and ask her to dance with him. If he had done it earlier he wouldn't have had to worry about Fabio.

He sighed and lowered his gaze, vowing to punch himself the second he was out of sight.

XXX

The party wound down early; though it was only 10 the guests were ready for bed, tired after the past few days.

Tony and Ziva headed back to their room, not bothering to turn on the light as the moonlight lit the room enough.

Ziva walked to the window and pushed it open, walking out onto the balcony. She stood at the railing and smiled to herself as a small drop of rain landed on her shoulder.

"You alright?" Tony asked, walking out to join her. The rain began to get a little heavier until it was spitting calmly. "How was Paul?"

"Peter." Ziva corrected, staring at the sky. "And I am fine"

The two stood in silence for a little while, leaning against the railing.

"Would you like to go for a walk with me?" Ziva asked.

"In the rain?"

"Yes, Tony. In the rain." she rolled her eyes.

Tony thought for a second and then smiled. It would be a perfect opportunity to ask her some things.

"A walk it is." He said quietly, leaving the room.

XXX

XXX

**So, what do we all think? :P:P **

**For those of you who don't know what either James Marsden or Jude Law look like (You all should) here they are:**

**JUDE: **

**/wp-content/uploads/2006/11/sienna-miller-jude-law-break-up-again-11-14-2006.jpg**

**imagecache2./images/pic/MMPH/C57645Jude-Law-Posters.jpg**

**JAMES: **

**/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/james.jpg**

**Peter was based on this guy that was walking down the street one time. I don't usually fall in love with randoms – but this guy was the best looking person that I've EVER seen in my life – including the celebrities. Seriously. **

**Check out this fic:**

**/s/3976042/1/SpeakandDestroy**


	7. A walk in the rain

Thanks everyone for the FANTASTIC reviews

**Thanks everyone for the FANTASTIC reviews. No one wants to be my beta? **

**Okay then :P:P hehe**

**Can't hurt to try. **

**Thankyou all so much – you have no idea how happy all the feedback makes me. I mean, my heart actually does little palpitations… I think I should probably get that checked out… **

**Hehe**

**More Peter in following chapters but this one is all about the Tiva. **

**Here we have:**

**Chapter seven: A walk in the rain**

**  
**"This isn't crazy at all." Tony noted as he and Ziva walked along the sand, the rain getting heavier. They were at least two hundred yards away from the house now and had no intention of turning back any time soon.

"If you do not like it, Tony. You can turn back." Ziva smiled, her eyes glistening in the moonlight.

"No. I like it. In fact it reminds me of a movie… have you ever seen 'so I married an axe murderer?'" he asked. Ziva simply looked at him and he decided not to continue.

"Ziva…" Tony began after a long silence, stopping mid-stride

"Yes, Tony?" she responded, kicking the waves in front of her, turning to face him.

"… I think… you look really nice tonight." He smiled coyly, putting his head down to keep walking slowly along the beach.

He had wanted to ask about Peter but decided against it. He already knew how that conversation would pan out: He would ask. She would tease him for being jealous and the mood would die out – he was just going to push Peter away and deal with that another time.

This took Ziva aback; it took her a second to recollect her thoughts before she could respond.

"Thankyou… Tony." she smiled and continued walking with him.

After a while longer of walking the two stopped, staring out into the crystal blue ocean, clear even in the night. Tony turned toward Ziva, taking in her beauty, her eyes glistening in the moonlight. Her hair was dripping wet, and her dress stuck to her skin.

Ziva turned toward him and realised her was staring at her, his face serious.  
"What?" she asked, scrunching her face up confusedly.

"Should we head back?" he asked, the rain getting heavier and steadier.  
Ziva simply smiled back at him and collapsed into the wet sand, removing her shoes.

"What are you doing, David?" Tony asked, eying her confusedly.

"See that sand blank out there?" she asked, pointing out to a small bank about 100 yards out.

"Bank Ziva. Yes I see the sand _bank._"

Ziva simply rolled her eyes and ran into the water, diving under.

"Ziva!" Tony called from shore, removing his shoes "What the hell are you doing…? Jesus." he said to himself, diving in after her.

The two swam neck and neck until they reached the sand bank, completely drenched.

Tony climbed out of the water and fell onto his back; staring at the stars, breathing heavily. Ziva laughed and fell next to him, lying on the flat of her back, her white sundress completely plastered to the ground, sopping wet.

"Answer me this one, Iron-woman" Tony turned to Ziva, propping himself up on his right arm, Ziva turned her face to him, her eyes narrow in confusion. "What happened at the Wedding?"

Butterflies erupted in Ziva's stomach. She thought he had forgotten about that.

"What are you talking about?" She asked, playing dumb.

"I mean, what happened when me and you were dancing? You were there one minute and the next you were gone."

She broke away from his powerful gaze, staring at the dark clouds, rain landing on her cheeks. "It was nothing."

"Ziva…" Tony began, positioning himself so she had to look at him. "Why did you walk away?"

Ziva propped herself up, staring into Tony's eyes.

"It reminded me of when we were… together." she began, dropping her gaze a little. "And the way that I felt when it was over."

Tony closed his eyes, his heart beating against his rib cage.

"I'm sorry." he whispered "I was stupid back then…" he smiled.

Ziva smiled crookedly and lifted her eyes to return to his gaze.

"It was only eight months ago."

"Yeah…" he smiled, revealing all of his teeth. "Well if I could go back in time and change anything, it would be the stupid decision I made."

Ziva just lay there, breathing softly as the rain got heavier, hitting them hard as they lay still, their emotions totally open to the other.

"Tony?" She began, still staring into the cloudy night, only a few stars visible through the thick black cloud.

"Yeah…" he responded, turning toward her.

"…Nothing…" she chickened out. Too scared to ask. She had no idea what it was about Tony; she could face the deadliest assassins in all of Israel and stay in the palaces of Baghdad before the country was liberated but something about Tony and her feelings got her so scared. Maybe it was because she had no control over them. All she knew was her heart was racing, leaping into her throat.

"You know you can tell me, Ziva." Tony whispered, turning toward her, his eyes boring into her's.

"It is nothing" she shook her head.

"'_Nothing'_ interests me" he smiled

"…I was just wondering… about what you would change…"

"Oh." Tony said, immediately regretting pressing the matter.

"You do not have to answer… I know how commitment gets you all wormish." she smiled, trying to hide her desire to know his answer.

"It's squeamish, and no, that's fine - I'll answer." he exhaled, rubbing his brow. "What I would change is the fact that I let you go."

"What do you mean?" she asked, propping herself up again, the rain now bucketing down onto them.

"I mean that I regret saying what I said to you. Seeing Abby and McGee together makes me wonder why I let go of what we had… well… what we could have had." he explained, staring into Ziva's eyes. Blinking away the droplets that landed on him.

"Oh…"

Tony sighed and got up, holding his hand out to pull Ziva up with him.  
"Dance with me." He smiled, the rain beating steadily against the water around them.

"We do not have any music, Tony." she replied, accepting his hand.

Tony smiled crookedly at her, pulling her in. He held her right hand in his left and wrapped his free arm around her waist, moving closer until their bodies were touching, Ziva shivered as his cold body came into contact with hers.

The two began swaying, Tony humming a tune that Ziva recognised; soon he broke out of the humming and began singing,

'_Maybe I didn't treat you  
Quite as good as I should have.  
Maybe I didn't love you  
Quite has often as I could have  
Little things I could have said and done  
I just never took the time  
But you were always on my mind  
You were always on my mind'_

_  
_Tony pushed Ziva out slightly and spun her slowly under his arm, pulling her back to his body, humming along to the instrumental parts of the song. Ziva smiled lightly as the rain began pelting down around them.  
Tony continued, his voice deep and melodic;

_'Maybe I didn't hold you  
All those lonely, lonely times  
And I guess I never told you  
I'm so happy that your mine  
If I made you feel second best  
Girl I'm sorry I was blind  
Cause you were always on my mind  
You were always on my mind'_

_  
_Ziva leaned in and rested her head on his shoulder, her arms moving to around his neck, she closed her eyes and joined in singing with him, into his ear.

_'Tell me  
Tell me that your sweet love hasn't died  
Give me  
Give me one more chance to keep you satisfied  
Satisfied  
Little things I should have said and done  
I just never took the time  
But you were always on my mind  
You were always on my mind  
You were always on my mind'_

_  
_Tony bent down and dipped Ziva, his face millimetres from hers.

_'You were always on my… mind'_

_  
_He finished the song, their faces still close. They stayed like that for what felt like hours, their eyes boring into each other.  
Finally Tony leaned in and closed the gap, their lips touching sweetly as the rain got heavier and heavier around them.

XXX

Again – it was Michael Buble – I suggest everyone get this song – so beautiful, Michael Buble is a god among men.

**The song is 'always on my mind' and I think it fit so perfectly with the scene. The lyrics could not have been more spot on if they were written exactly for this situation. **

**This one wins:**

/s/4460837/1/OneBrokenRuleOneReunionOneSoulmate


	8. Always on my mind

**Hey there all! **

**Thanks for the comments - you all know how they brighten my day. To frogster: I know nothing about beta-ing, the only experience I have ever had was people sending stories to me and I edited them.. :P:P hehe! **

**Well NCIS is on tonight (not a new episode, obviously) Frame-up. I wish channel ten would show more recent episodes. If they are going to repeat they should at least do season 4 (though I do love season 3)**

**Anyway - I'll be quiet now. **

**Hope you all enjoy:**

**Chapter eight: Always on my mind**

Tony and Ziva ran up the large staircase together, dripping water all through the house as they did so, they sprinted as quietly as they could manage and pushed the door to their room open, touching their lips together the instant they were inside. Tony pushed Ziva back against the door, slamming it shut. He held her face in his hands and deepened the kiss urgently.

Ziva smiled underneath his touch and began removing his drenched shirt, the salt water completely washed away after the 500 yard walk along the beach back to the house. Tony moved his hands up and tangled them in her wet hair, shivering as she collided against his bare chest.

Tony moved his hands down her body and around her waist, rising them up her back to undo the zip at the back of her dress. The heavy, sopping wet dress fell to the floor quickly, crumpling like a wet towel. Ziva broke the kiss, angling her neck up, gasping for air though Tony's lips did not leave her skin, they continued across her neck, nibbling slightly. She gasped and pushed him off her.

"Gibbs." She whispered, panting.

Tony scrunched his eyes in confusion. "I'm Tony… is there a reason you're calling out our boss' name in the middle of… this?"

Ziva rolled her eyes "He will see the mark." she explained.

"Oh" he nodded his head. "I knew that."

She shook her head and moved her lips back to his, jumping up into his arms so her legs were wrapped around him, her body wedged between him and the wall. She leant down to deepen the kiss, entangling her hands in his hair.

Tony braced Ziva to his body as he pulled away from the wall, dumping her onto the bed. He stood over her, taking in her beauty.

"There's the lingerie." he beamed, revealing his thousand watt smile.

Ziva rolled her eyes and sat up, pulling Tony down onto the bed with her, joining her lips back to his.

He leant over her, deepening the kiss.

The two rolled around the bed, wrestling for who got to be on top, completely saturating the bed as they did so. Finally Tony settled for begin underneath and Ziva smiled triumphantly, trailing kisses down his chest, feeling the light contours. She got to his pants and unzipped them, rolling the wet material down his legs. She laughed to herself and threw the pants to the other side of the room.

"What?" Tony asked, his eyes narrow.

"nothing." she smiled, leaning down to meet their lips together. Tony moved his hands from their lingering position at her waist, up her body to the back of her bra. He unclipped it and threw it away.

Ziva leant down to deepen the kiss further, shivering as her breasts came into contact with his cold skin; the heavy rain beating against the ground outside.

Tony broke the intense kiss and began kissing along her jaw line to her ear where he nibbled on her lobe. She moaned in response and Tony sat upright.

"This could be a problem." he whispered, staring at her, his eyes widened slightly.

"I will try to be quieter." she whispered, leaning down to deepen the kiss. He smiled under her lips and continued willingly, leaning down to remove his boxers and throw them away, removing Ziva's underpants as too he did so.

Tony flipped Ziva so her head was resting on the soft pillow, her wet hair all around her, sweat mixing in with water. Without breaking the kiss he began, causing Ziva to moan underneath him, as he went faster the moaning became louder until it was quiet screaming. He tried to muffle the sound by kissing her but she kept breaking the kiss. Finally he laughed, exasperated.

"Ziva…" He began, panting "Could you please, _please_ not do that?"

"I will try." she answered, breathing unevenly.

Tony laughed quietly, revealing all his teeth and continued. 'crazy chick' he thought to himself.

XXX

Tony woke up at zero-seven hundred to the peaceful snoring of his partner who lay next to him, her body entangled in the bedspread. He yawned and sat up, staring at different items of damp clothing that were strewn across the room. He smiled to himself and lay on his side, wrapping his arms around her. He leant forward and kissed her neck, trailing kisses along it until she woke up, smiling to herself.

Ziva turned around so she was facing Tony.

"Good morning, agent DiNozzo" she smiled.

"Officer David." he noted, leaning in to meet his lips to hers. He began deepening the kiss further, pushing against her, butterflies in his stomach.

Suddenly there was a loud knock at the door that caused Tony and Ziva to jump.

"Dammit." Tony whispered, jumping out of the bed, desperately searching for something to throw on. "Hold on a second!" he called to the door.

Ziva ran to the draws and threw on the first top she could find, not bothering with a bra, she ran back to the bed and threw the doona on.

"Put the clothes under the bed." Tony whispered to Ziva urgently and there was another knock at the door. "Who is it?" he called.

"It's us." called McGee, his voice muffled through the wood.

"Coming, Probie." When he was sure everything was in order the ran to the door, pulling it open to a confused Abby and McGee. Tony shrugged, trying to play it nonchalant.

"We were getting dressed."

"Right…" McGee nodded, dragging out the word.

"We wanted to say goodbye before we left but if you two are busy we can… send you a postcard instead…" Abby piped up, her tone thick with implication.

"Wha-what are you talking about. There's nothing going on here." Tony began to cover up, realising his tone was not as convincing as it should have been.

"Right…" McGee nodded again, the same tone as last time. "Well we're going now. See you guys. Thanks for everything."

"Play it safe…" Abby smiled, turning to leave.

"Enjoy your honeymoon." Tony smiled, maybe a little too sweetly.

"Send us a… postcard…" Ziva called, her heart beating a mile a minute. Tony closed the door and turned to her, his eyes a little worried. "It is okay. They have been making those implications all week - they are just guessing."

"Yeah." Tony replied, his face more relaxed - she did have a point.

He turned to her, a smouldering smile on his face, and moved in closer, "Now… where were we?" he asked, leaning in to kiss her.

Ziva responded by leaning in closer, their lips meeting passionately. He picked her up and placed her on the bed without breaking the kiss. They continued to kiss and Tony laughed lightly under her lips.

"What?" Ziva asked, out of breath.

"Just the sneaking around. Gibbs not knowing about us. All the sex. It reminds me of last time." he smiled, moving his lips back to her's.

Her lips froze in place as realisation dawned on her - the same thing was happening. Just like last time…

It was purely physical… Again. He had no intention of feeling for her what she felt for him - it was just about sex. She pushed him away and sat up, walking to the door.

"Ziva?" said Tony as he jumped up, confusion written all over his face. "Ziva what did I say?"

"just like last time." she repeated quietly to herself, staring at the ground. Without another word she walked out the door, not able to deal with the feelings she felt.

She walked down the hallway quickly, completely ignoring the calls coming from behind her.

XXX

**Why must Tony always ruin everything? One more chapters until updating has caught up with me so there may be delays - sorry for the slow update this time - I'll make it up to you somehow.. :P:P**

**Xox mel**


	9. The Sand bank

She walked down the hallway quickly, completely ignoring the calls coming from behind her.

XXX

**Hey all - I just realised that I have the name Peter twice… of all the billions of names in the world and I had to put the same thing twice. To save confusion I shall now refer to McGee's friend 'Peter' as 'Mark'… Please tell me I don't already have THAT name. I kind of got sick of constantly using the name 'Michael'… I'm serious… looking over all my other fics (that I haven't posted) Michael is in every one of them. I guess I just love the name. It is pretty, isn't it?**

**Anyway - enough babbling. **

**Chapter nine: The sand bank**

XXX

Ziva sat staring at the dull sand in front of her. She looked up to the sky, for the first time taking notice of the thick black clouds above her head, withholding the rain despite their colour.

She lost track of how long she sat for, the clouds showed not even a hint of sunlight; giving her no indication of time. The minutes felt like hours, long, tearless hours.

"Surprised it took you so long." Ziva said out loud, not turning her body around to confirm that someone was in fact behind her.

Tony smiled without humour, recognising this line. He walked forward a few feet and fell down next to her, staring out to the crashing waves.

The two sat in silence for a few minutes, simply staring out, neither not knowing what to say.

"Ziva…" Tony began finally, still staring out to the water. "I'm sor--"

"I know." she cut him off harshly, boring her eyes into his skull. "I know…" she repeated in a whisper, lowering her head.

"Why did you leave?" he asked, turning toward her, his eyes boring into her skull.

Ziva sat staring out to the ocean, her heart beating against her chest.

"Just like last time." she repeated, smiling bitter sweetly - not a hint of humour in her features. "You really know how to screw up a good thing, Tony."

This hit Tony hard. It was not fair that she continually blame everything on him.

"What is that supposed to mean, David?" he asked, letting the anger he felt sneak into his tone.

Ziva turned to meet his gaze.

"I mean that everything was fine until you opened your big mouth." she explained in a calm tone that only made him angrier.

"Okay, Ziva. I made a mistake. I said something I didn't mean."

"Again."

"What?"

"Again - Tony, this is not the first time you have said something you 'did not mean'" she said, staring back out to the ocean.

"Look - Ziva. I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings here. I'm sorry if I'm not the most perfect person in the world all the time. And I make mistakes - I'm not like you. I'm not some robot that never make an error…" he said, watching her eyes as they went from angry to venomous.

"What, DiNozzo?!" She stared into his eyes intently, suddenly angry "What do you want me to do? I am not going to start crying my eyes out just because you tell me that it is okay to. There are other things that I could cry about or yell about that mean more to me then you would understand…"

She let it trail off and began to stand up, doing what the two usually did in a confrontation - walk away from it.

"Don't walk away this time, Ziva." Tony ordered in such a voice that made her second guess who was talking. His voice was deep and harsh - full of authority.

She stopped mid stride, her back facing him.

"You can't just walk away from this, Ziva."

"Watch me, Tony." she said quietly, defeated, not turning her head around to measure his expression. She began to walk on, leaving him standing on the beach, wondering how the hell something so small could turn into something so big.

XXX

Ziva entered the house fighting the urge to break something valuable. She walked straight to the kitchen liquor cabinet and retrieved the first bottle her hand caught.

She set her glass down on the bench and opened the bottle, a small piece of paper catching her eye. For the first time since she entered the house she realised it was a little too quiet. She picked up the piece of paper. It read;

'Tony and Ziva,

Gone into town for a few hours.

Thought it'd be best to inform you.

Enjoy the house.

Mark, Jethro and Peter are fishing - they should be back around same time as us.

Much love,

- Tess.'

"Great." Ziva muttered to herself, of all the moments she could have been left alone with DiNozzo…

"What's great?" Came a deep, melodic voice from behind.

Ziva instinctively reached for her weapon and turned around, knowing the only other voice she should have heard was Tony's - and even if by some chance the beautiful voice did belong to Tony, she wanted a reason to shoot him anyway.

Her eyes met with a pair of warm electric blue ones.

"Whoa!" he called, throwing his hands up in defence. "I'm allowed to be here. Mark… Ma-ark" he mouthed out the syllables, clearly fearing for his life though a smile was playing on his features. To him, there was nothing sexier than a hot woman with a gun.

"Sorry." Ziva murmured, quickly putting her gun back in it's holster at the inside of her left leg.

"That's okay. There's nothing I enjoy more than having a gun pointed toward me on a Saturday morning." he smiled flawlessly, moving closer to her. "Mind if I join?" he asked, gesturing toward the opened bottle of bourbon.

Ziva simply nodded and turned to the cupboard, retrieving another glass.

"Aren't you supposed to be fishing?" She asked as she poured the dark liquid into a glass, gesturing toward the piece of paper.

"Yeah. I decided I'd give that one a miss today." Mark smiled in response. "Aren't you supposed to be in town?"

"Yes…" was her only response, she stared into Mark's eyes, letting him know that she was not willing to say much more on the topic.

"Trouble with the boyfriend?" he asked, his eyes glistening as he finished off his glass, settling it down on the bench top.

"He is not my boyfriend… he is not really anything…" she trailed off, staring into his eyes.

"Oh… I thought you two were in a relationship." he explained, reaching forward to take her empty glass out of her hand, setting it down on the table next to his. "So I suppose that's good."

Ziva let a single hysteric laugh pass through her nose.

"Good for whom?"

Mark smiled crookedly, his eyes sparkling. His perfection caused Ziva to momentarily forgot about her troubles.

And a moment was all it took.

In a second, Ziva's lips were crushing against Mark's, her hands tangling in his hair. He responded by wrapping his arms around her waist, pulling her closer to him. Without breaking the rhythm he picked her up and threw her onto the counter, managing to get the glasses out of the way just short of throwing them against the wall.

He deepened the kiss further until they both couldn't take anymore, he leant down and swooped her up into his arms, carrying her up the stairs, their kiss becoming more urgent by the second.

Ziva closed her eyes and continued the kiss - her thoughts not leaving Tony the entire time…

XXX

After sitting staring at their sandbank for what felt like hours, Tony decided it was time to make things right. He was not going to lose Ziva to some stupid comment he made without thinking. He got up and walked back toward the house, hoping she was in a forgiving mood.

He walked into the silent house and headed straight for the kitchen where he saw a white piece of paper on the ground. He picked it up and read it to himself before settling it on the table.

"Great." he said to himself. Of all the days he had to be left alone with Ziva - what if she didn't forgive him?

The two empty glasses on the counter caught Tony's attention. He walked to the open bottle and smelt it, immediately recognising the scent to be bourbon. He nodded to himself and took a swig from the bottle, assuming the glasses were Ziva's though something was hinky about why there were two.

Almost on cue he heard a loud moan come from upstairs and his stomach fell into swooping flips. His thoughts began spiralling as he assumed the worst. His mind sprinted up the stairs but his legs stayed planted on the ground. It took a second for his imagination to calm down and he walked up the stairs - trying to stay optimistic.

He walked along the hallway toward Mark's room - hoping to god it was not what he thought.

"Please do not be what I think it is…" he whispered inaudibly.

He walked further down the hall and heard another loud moan. He closed his eyes in defeat as he stood facing Mark's door.

He jousted his jaw and knocked firmly on the wood.

He waited a few minutes for some kind of sign that someone was coming to the door to yell 'got ya!' and settle his nerves, making him think it was some kind of sick practical joke. However that never came and after another minute he knocked on the door again - this time harder.

He waited another minute and the door finally clicked open, revealing Mark in a bath robe.

"Hey Tony." he said, loud enough to be warning Ziva of who their guest was "How can I help you, man?"

Tony stood with narrow eyes, trying to see around the bastard. However Mark was one step ahead of him, moving with his to block his vision into the room.

"Seen Ziva around here. Around 5'7" got dark brown hair, Israeli, Star of David tattoo on her left breast?" Tony's voice was close to poison.

Mark hung his head and opened the door to reveal Ziva sitting on the bed wearing a robe similar to the one he was wearing. She uncrossed her legs and stood up walking to the door.

"Can we help you, Tony?" she asked, coiling her arms around Mark's waist.

Tony couldn't respond. The feeling he felt was something he did not recognise. He felt as though someone had torn him right down the middle. A livid fire burned in his chest right up to his throat. His eyes narrowed immediately, moistening slightly.

Before he could do anything he would live to regret he simply turned and walked away, utterly irate. Not only was she sleeping with some other guy - she was rubbing it in his face.

One look at Tony's face caused Ziva's anger to melt away.

Not only had she hurt him, she had taken his dignity.

She had never seen him so cut in all of their years together - not even when Jeanne left him.

Without thinking she ran down the hall after him, yearning to explain - not knowing how to justify her actions. Sure, they weren't technically in a relationship but she had still made a mistake that was affectively going to ruin any chance the two of them ever had.

As if it wasn't hard enough already…

XXX

**By the way, I just realised that I didn't do a cool fic for last chapter, so here are the two I love and that you should all check out.. .ASAP!**

**One broken rule, one reunion, one soul mate**

**- SusyH82**

**Picking up the pieces and filling in the gaps**

**- **ChelseaDaggerCinderella


	10. We always hurt the ones we love

**Chapter 10 - We always hurt the ones we love**

"Tony!" Ziva called down the hall after him, fastening her robe tighter as she walked after him. "Tony!"

Tony continued to walk, not hearing her through the venomous ringing that rang through his ears. He powered on, fighting the urge to punch a hole in the beige wall.

"Tony!" Ziva called to his back, now only feet from him. The pair began to descend the large staircase and Ziva lunged forward, grabbing his right shoulder and tugging on it, causing him to face her. "Let me explain!"

"Explain what, Ziva?!" Tony spun around, black fire burning in his eyes. He was hurt. More hurt than he should be for something that was supposed to mean 'nothing.' "How can you explain?"

Ziva was silent. She broke the intense gaze that he held her to and stared at the ground. Hanging her head in shame. "I was angry…" she began.

"huh." Tony scoffed, turning to walk away again.

"It did not mean anything, Tony." she yelled, very out of character. She felt her chest restrict and her breathing became rapid.

He stopped mid stride and turned around, walking quietly up the stairs until his face was inches from her's. "Just like last night, Ziva?" he asked in a poison whisper.

"I am sorry." she whispered back.

"What about this…" he trailed off, leaning in to kiss her roughly on the lips. "What did that mean?"

"What more do you want me to say, Tony?" she asked, heightening her tone. "I have apologised. There is nothing more I can do…"

"You can leave me alone." he answered in a low grumble. "Because I can't look at you right now, Ziva." he said, fighting tears.

"Ahem." A person behind them cleared their throats.

Tony and Ziva turn their heads around slowly to find the entire family standing at the front door, every pair of eyes sitting on them.

Tony swallowed inaudibly and descended the stairs, brushing past the family; his head high.

XXX

Tony walked along the gravel road, kicking a stone in front of him. He had no idea where he was going. He had no idea what he was thinking about. He was simply walking.

He was simply happy he'd escaped the house. Away from the accusing, confused eyes. And away from Ziva - especially away from Ziva.

How could she have done that to him? The thing that irked him the most was not that fact that she had slept with some other guy, not that she rubbed it in his face, but that he let it affect him. He let it slice through him.

Why did he feel this way? He didn't love her. He couldn't love her.

…

Well maybe he could have.

But what made him angrier STILL was that he still wanted her. He wanted to love her.

Maybe that was what he was feeling.

Want to love.

Not the actual emotion.

A light gray blotch in his peripheral vision caused Tony's head to snap up.

"Not to offend, Sir. But I really don't want to hear it." he said, lowering his head to continue walking.

"Stop, DiNozzo." Gibbs ordered calmly, pushing away from the wall he was leaning on. How did he even get there before Tony?

Tony stopped and turned to his boss, expecting to get shot for what happened with him and Ziva.

"Save it, Boss." he said. If he was dying, he was going down with his dignity… Well what he had left of that. "I know… I know."

Gibbs stood silently, knowing that Tony needed his rant before he was pulled back to reality.

"I know what you're going to say but you can't say that you never did what I did - you were with Jenny in Paris. We all know about that, Gibbs. And I also know how that ended so I probably should have known better."

Gibbs remained silent, cringing slightly at the use of Jenny's name. it was still a soft spot.

"Did she hurt you, Gibbs? You were in love with her, weren't you. I'm not in love with Ziva. I just didn't think she would do this. You know what, it doesn't matter - I don't even care anymore… why should I care… Boss… why do I care?" he asked, his voice fading through his rant until he was whispering the last line.

Gibbs smirked without humour and moved closer to his senior field agent, standing directly in front of him.

"finished?" he asked.

Tony nodded and Gibbs hit him on the back of the head.

"Thankyou, Boss. I needed that." he noted, nodding his head.

Gibbs nodded, the smirk returning, and hit him again, this time harder.

"what was that one for?"

"Rule number twelve." Gibbs responded, walking away.

"You know, technically, we never dated…" Tony faded off, gulping as Gibbs turned back toward him. "But the intent was clear…"

They two stood in silence for a few minutes, waiting for someone to make the next move.

"What do you want me to do boss? Do you want me to forgive her?"

"No." Gibbs stared at Tony, his eyes blank.

"You want me to forget about all of this and move on?"

"No."

Silence.

"Then what? What do you want me to do?" Tony asked, exasperated, now more than ever he needed guidance. He had no idea what he was doing - his thinking wasn't rational, how could he make an informed decision?

"I want you to think, Tony." Gibbs leaned forward and tapped him on the head, reminding him that he had a brain "Think about what you are doing." he said.

Gibbs was being very understanding. It could have just been that he was in a good mood but he was being very kind for the situation at hand. Tony was expecting to be fired and sent to Europe in a matter of seconds once Gibbs found out.

Without another word, Gibbs turned around and walked away, not willing to be too understanding of the situation. He knew once they went back to work - if things worked out - they would have to set a few ground rules and that it would be very difficult but for that moment all he saw was a man that reminded him too much of himself than he felt comfortable with. And that young Gibbs needed help with something - even if the only help was a whack into reality… literally.

Tony watched as his boss rounded the corner on the street and vanished from sight. He kicked a rock that sat at his feet and walked on, deciding he would go to the small pier that lay a few hundred yards away from the house - he wasn't ready to go back yet. When he went back, not only did he have to deal with Ziva but he had to deal with the pity from everyone else too.

He walked in silence, kicking a rock in front of him, until he reached the narrow pathway that led off to the pier. He continued down the path and raised his head, finding an all to familiar figure sitting with her legs dangling over the edge.

Tony's back stiffened and he turned to walk away, knowing that he was not ready yet - he could say something he didn't mean.

"Tony." Ziva said, realising he was there. She got up and walked to him, her eyes begging him to let her explain.

"Ziva." he nodded, clearly uncomfortable.

"I am sorry--"

"Don't" Tony stopped her, raising his hand. The two stood in silence for a while until Tony turned around - classically walking away from their problems.

"Don't walk away this time, Tony" Ziva ordered, quoting earlier that day

He stopped mid stride, his back facing her.

"You can't just walk away from this, Tony"

"Watch me, Ziva." he said quietly, continuing to walk.

But Ziva was not going to take no as an answer this time - they were going to talk about this whether he wanted to or not. This was happening.

She ran after him and grabbed his shoulder, pulling on it so he was forced to face her.

"What?" he asked in a venomous tone.

"Listen to me." she ordered in a low voice.

Tony simply rolled his eyes and continued to walk, balling his fists in anger - he wasn't going to hit her, of course (He had no intention to die) he was simply attempting to lose some of the tension he felt.

All of a sudden he felt a low blow to his back and he fell to the ground, caught off guard. Immediately, he responded by spinning around, his legs out, tripping over his attacker. Ziva fell onto him and hit him in the stomach, feeling a low blow to her gut as he responded by kicking her off him.

Ziva swiftly recorrected her movement and pulled her Sig out in one fluid movement, pinning him to the ground.

"fine…" Tony grumbled, sitting up.

Ziva put her weapon back and held her arm out to help him up.

"I am sorry." she stuttered, realising what she had just done - it was her reflex action, she had no control over it at all.

"It's okay." Tony stood up, distancing himself from her. Though they were in the hugest fight the pair had ever encountered it was beginning to get better - more like Tony and Ziva. Their fights never lasted so long anyway. "You're forgiven." he attempted a smile.

"What now?" she asked, running a hand through her hair to get it out of her face.

"I think we should stay partners. I mean, look at us. We haven't even started anything and we've had a fist fight." Tony tried to add some comic relief.

Ziva couldn't respond. After the way she'd treated him, she supposed it was only fair he felt this way but it still hurt her… more than it should have.

"Partners." Ziva agreed, smiling her best fake smile, the gesture not touching her eyes.

XXX

**Okay, well what did everyone think? **

**There are two options from here**

**1 - I go with what I originally had planned for this and it gets REALLY angst from here (and they leave the mansion… sigh). Plot number one is a fairly good one though very angst-y so if you don't like that and would prefer we do something more along the lines of 'happy-go-lucky' then I suggest you go with option two which is:**

**2 - I get some suggestions on where to go from here, like I say, I have something organised however I can use that in a different fic (it wasn't written specifically for this) so don't worry about how much work it is for me. **

**Please just give me some suggestions on where to go… please?**

**Otherwise we get really, really angst-y-like :P**

**Thankyou all so much for reading, I can't wait to hear some ideas… please?**

**Check out: Deterioration of the fight or flight response **

**by xoxEllexox**


	11. Didn't we almost have it?

**Hey all - well I've decided to go with option one. If you don't like where it's headed it's your own fault! Thankyou all so much for the responses - you know that's why I get up in the morning. **

**However, I have received a few threats about them ending up together - And to this I simply say, trust me on this - don't my Tiva fics always have a happy ending? (please don't read my other fics. They are crap, Black Orchid is good… just not the others.)**

**LOVE YOU ALL!! **

**Here's:**

**Chapter 11: Didn't we almost have it?**

Three months and Three weeks after that afternoon:

Ziva came into work happier than usual for a Thursday, she seemed to be walking on air. As she placed her bags down she took in a deep breath, taking in the atmosphere around her, everything seeming more beautiful then any other day, especially any other day in the past few months. She removed her dripping wet coat and pulled her sopping hair out of her eyes, into a ponytail.

"Good morning, McGee" she chirped as she walked over to DiNozzo's desk "Hello, Tony, beautiful day, yes?"

"Yes, Ziva" Tony replied in a condescending tone "it's a toasty minus 2 degrees (Celsius) and raining… not to mention we still have two days left of this…"

"I am sorry that I asked." She called back at him already halfway to back to her desk. Tony's negativity didn't seem to bother her today.

"Why in such a happy mood?" McGee called across the bullpen, the curiosity in his voice almost tangible.

"Why not?" Ziva replied, hoping it would throw him off for a few minutes. There was a reason, however, one that through her happiness she was incredibly nervous about letting out. For the past few months she had been seeing Mark - yes, _that _Mark - and as the days turned to weeks it began to get more… serious. He went from a rebound relationship to something more and last night he had asked her to marry him.

And she had said yes.

In the back of her mind she still felt something for Tony but every time those emotions came up she forced them back.

XXX

Ziva walked down the stairs after talking to the director - Hollis Mann was no Jennifer Sheppard however if Gibbs respected her that was good enough for Ziva.

She entered the bullpen and walked to her desk.

"Ziva?" Gibbs asked, his tone full of understanding - Holly had clearly already explained to him. "Something you wanna tell us?"

"Ah yeah." Ziva scratched the top half of her right arm nervously. Which meant something. She never got nervous. Ever. "Abby's lab?"

Gibbs nodded and turned to a confused McGee and Tony. He whistled at the two while walking out of the bullpen. "Come on."

Tony and McGee exchanged confused glances and quickly got up to follow their boss into the elevator before the doors closed.

XXX

"Okay, everyone" Ziva started, this was it, everyone was going to find out "I wanted to tell you all this at the same time because I did not want to waste any of our _valuable_ working time" she shot a glance at Gibbs and he just smiled a half smile. _Here goes _

"I've got it!" Tony interrupted, rubbing his temples with closed eyes… "You've bought a miniature schnauzer… and… it's a boy!"

"Hey, DiNozzo. I got a game for ya." Gibbs said, ready to slap Tony a new one.

"What's that boss?" Tony smiled, knowing he was a dead man anyway.

"It's called shut up." Gibbs smiled without humour and hit his senior field agent over the back of the head.

"Sorry. Boss. Sorry, Ziva… go on"

"umm… okay. I am… engaged" she said quietly, almost hesitantly. She pulled her ring out for everyone to see. There was a moment of silence before Abby squealed and ran to her - none of them had been expecting her to say _that_.

"Congratulations, Ziva!" Abby yelled as she ran and gave her a hug "what's his name?"

"His name is Mark… and we have been… seeing each other for nearly 4 months. He proposed to me last night at the cinema. He booked out the whole of gold class and at the end of the movie credits, he payed to have an engagement notice written. It was so sweet." Ziva was glowing. She was using words like 'Sweet' and 'romantic', too many movies - perhaps the film classes had brought on more then just the understanding of the language and Tony's attention.

Everyone was celebrating but Tony. He felt as though someone had kicked him in the stomach. _Engaged?_ He was deep in thought he didn't even notice Ziva walk up and pull him aside

"You are okay with this, Tony?" she asked with a hint of concern in her voice, something Ziva didn't always show. "I mean, I know we used to, you know. But I hope you can come to the wedding, we have not got a date yet but would like for you to be there."

Tony didn't know what to say, he desperately wanted to tell her that he couldn't possibly bear going but on the other hand, he didn't want to upset her. He promised to himself that he'd never do that to her or himself again.

"Sure, I'm happy for you" was all he managed to squeeze out; he held his hand out for her to shake it "congratulations" he said

She pushed his hand to the side and hugged him

"DiNozzo, stop flirting with the bride-to-be!" Abby yelled, "Now come over here Ziva and tell us more about this whole thing!"

Tony couldn't handle much more; he had to get out of there. He quietly slipped out when no one was looking; at least, he thought no one was looking. He ran to the elevator and hit the button several times before being joined by McGee.

"Something wrong?" He asked, turning to measure Tony's expression.

"Nothing, I just want to get back to work."

"Seriously, Tony, I may not be Gibbs but I still know when something's up, so don't think Ziva didn't notice either"

The elevator doors opened and both Tony and McGee got in, as soon as the doors closed McGee leant forward and shut off the power in a very Gibbs-esque way. It seemed everyone was different today, Ziva was showing emotion, Tony was hiding emotion and McGee was acting like the boss.

Tony rubbed his brow "engaged?" was all he managed to say, still unable to believe it.

"What?" McGee didn't understand.

"She's engaged." Tony repeated, not so much to McGee as to come to terms with it himself.

"Yeah?" Tim still wasn't following.

There was silence in the elevator. The atmosphere of annoyance and confusion almost tangible in the tight space. Tony rubbed his brow, every emotion he ever suppressed for Ziva was rising back to the surface, he felt like he would cry. She had moved on and he was left solitary, his feelings not returned.

"Tony." McGee finally broke the tension "Why is this so bad? I mean, you and Ziva kissed, I knew that but it was ages ago… why are you taking this so hard?"

"It wasn't just a kiss." he replied quietly, his gaze not moving from a spot on the floor.

Tim's face dropped "you mean. you two?"

"Yeah. Probie." Tony cut him off sharply and angrily before his face softened, realising how harsh he had been. "Sorry, Kid."

"So that's why..?" He pressed carefully, not to push Tony too far.

"yep…" Tony answered, not surprised that McGee knew all about the rendezvous of what happened once they left for their honey moon. They were family and in family, news travelled fast.

"Did you tell her that you did?"

"What?"

"Did you tell her that you wanted more?" McGee repeated. "I doubt Ziva would dismiss you if you told her you wanted something more."

Tony face dropped and he thought for a second. He refused to believe what McGee was saying, she wanted nothing to do with him that way and she made it clear.

"No."

There was another silence, McGee let out a small, hysterical laugh. Tony shot him a dark look.

"What?" he spat

"Well. It's déjà vu." he smiled without much humour "When you were with Jeanne Ziva was constantly obsessing over you and now she's got someone and you are just as bad."

Tony hadn't realised that Ziva had ever felt something for him, he thought it had just been teasing until it got out of hand.

"Except." He continued "It was worse for her, you were so secretive."

He felt bad. He had no idea how bad he had been to Ziva. All she wanted was to help and he pushed her away, the jerk that he was. For once, he was walking in her shoes, realising how bad it must have been for her.

"So all this time…" he let the sentence hang.

McGee nodded.

"Are you going to tell her?" he asked once it had settled.

Tony laughed in hysterical exasperation "Well Probie. How do you suppose I do that? I just walk up to her and tell her how I feel? 'Hey Ziva. Don't marry this guy. Marry Me. I'm the one who loves you.'"

"Do you?"

"What?"

"Do you love her?" he asked.

Tony thought for a second. His heart was fluttering at the mention of love, finally, it was allowed to be free, his heart was allowed to beat for the first time in nearly four months he could breath without having to hold anything back.

"Yes." he answered. "no… I don't know"

"Well let her be happy." It killed McGee to give up on Tommy and Lisa, he loved them together but at the same time he knew Tony would pull through and tell her anyway, it was just best for him to realise it and not rebound any bad advice back to himself.

"I can't believe she's with this… what's his name, again?" Tony asked, completely blanking on the guy's name. It wasn't exactly the key word in her sentence.

"Tony…" McGee trailed off, now knowing why he had been so calm up to this point - he hadn't realised who it was. "She's marrying Mark."

Tony nodded slowly, a white hot rage flashing past his eyes. How had that gone over his head? He leant forward and hit the switch to start up again, ready to punch someone's lights out.

He had to stop her. Screw McGee's stupid advise. He needed to fix his mistake. He needed to get her back.

His heart pound in his throat.

Maybe he did love her…

XXX

**Hey - hope you all liked it :P**

**More to come so sit tight, please :D:D**

**Check out:**

**His past, her present, their pain **

**By LadyTrish**

**It's awesome. **

**Xox Mel**


	12. One day it's heaven One day it's hell

**HEY! HEY! HEY! **

**Sorry for the slow updates lately. It's been frantic… well not really. I just haven't really spent a lot of time on the computer. I've been watching the Olympics! GO AUSSIE! Hehe but seriously, go Australia. :P**

**Thanks for all the comments, you make my life complete. **

**Here is:**

**Chapter 12: One day it's heaven, one day it's hell.**

The remainder of the day dragged, Ziva's happy mood only made it harder on Tony. In all the years of them working together he couldn't remember seeing her that happy, and that made him wonder if she could ever be like that with him.

"So what are you doing tonight, Ziva?" Tony asked, looking up from his paperwork, no cases - desk work.

Ziva was caught off guard by this question as Tony hadn't spoken to her all day - well, he hadn't said much to anyone that day.

"Nothing tonight. I am meeting Mark for a jog tomorrow." She couldn't help but add her fiancé's name in, clearly too wrapped up in her own world to realise the affect this had on Tony.

He nodded and went back to his paperwork, nearly finished due to the lack of talking. The sun had set and it was closing on quitting time when he stood up and swung his bag over his back, finished for the day.

"Going somewhere, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked, not looking up from his desk.

Tony glanced behind himself cautiously, confused at what his boss was talking about. "I finished my work." he said in a monotone, no emotion. This did not go unnoticed by anyone, not even his partner who was off in the land of the fairies.

The bullpen was silent and all pairs of eyes locked on Tony. never, in the time any of them had been working there had Tony finished all his work before anyone else.

"You should not talk more often." Gibbs said looking around the room to the shocked faces of his team.

Tony nodded and left to the elevator, leaving a confused Ziva staring at his back. All the worry and emotions she felt for him when he was with Jeanne came back. He was secretive, out of character. Something was wrong. She internally kicked herself for not paying any attention to him that day so she had no idea what else he was reacting to. She shot Gibbs a look and he nodded.

"Go. Finish tomorrow." he said. They needed to sort it out. Whether they were going to fight or talk he didn't mind, all he knew was that something was off.

The elevator doors were closing as Tony leaned against the wall, his face buried in his hands, rubbing his eyes with the tips of his fingers. He heard a small jolt and he opened his eyes to find Ziva stepping into the elevator, catching it just in time.

"Ziva." He nodded.

"You are not well." She said. Tony had to smile at this. Good old Ziva, straight to the point.

"I seem to think I am very well, thankyou." he said, adding one of his joking smiles, though his eyes hid nothing.

"I mean, you are not fine... With me getting married."

Tony's face faltered "Question or statement?"

Ziva leaned in closer, and like McGee and Gibbs, she reached out and hit the stop button, her eyes not moving away from his gaze. Tony broke away, moving back quickly. Too quickly.

"You see." she said, pointing at him, though his reaction was on video footage that he could just turn and look at.

"See what?"

"You moved away."

"So?" Tony shrugged, this was not good for his feelings, she was making it worse, soon he was going to spill his heart out and she was going to have no one to blame but herself.

"We always joke. I move closer and you move closer. Even when you were with Jeanne we used to do it? Why is this different?"

This hit home. Tony wanted nothing more than to keep doing what they were doing but he couldn't. He leaned forward and flicked the switch back on, ignoring Ziva's open-mouthed, confused gaze.

XXX

Ziva sat at home staring at her half empty wine glass. Or was it half full? She sighed and relaxed back into her couch.

Suddenly her mind flicked back to _that_ night. The passion, the romance, the rain hitting the ground so hard outside yet everything going on with them was enough to block out the rest of the world.

A knock at the door broke her reverie, she placed her wine glass down and walked down the hall to answer the door, not expecting anyone as Mark said he was busy that night, she smiled at the fact that he had still thought of visiting her, even in his own busy schedule.

She opened the door and was surprised to find Tony standing outside, his face clearly considering whether he should run or stay the course.

"Hello, Tony" Ziva smiled, though the gesture didn't touch her confused eyes.

"Can I come in?" He asked, not bothering with a 'Hey Ziva.' or a 'How are you?'

Ziva just stepped back and allowed him in. She closed the door behind him and spun to face her partner, their eyes meeting for a split second. The pair had the uncanny ability to communicate without words or gestures, it was like they were on a frequency only they could access and that's what made their connection so strong.

"You were right." He started, not bothering with any small talk.

"You are not alright with me getting married?" she asked for clarification

"I don't want to joke with you. I don't want to play tease with you."

There was a stillness, Ziva was searching for the correct words to respond to that.

"I can't. Not when your marrying some guy." He felt his eyes glass up, though he was not going to cry, all was not lost…. Yet.

"Why not? I did it when you were with that girl!" Ziva yelled back, she was angry, angry that he was such a hypocrite, angry that he couldn't be happy for her, angry that he couldn't understand. "Or could you not see that when you were too busy with _her_? Do you even remember any of me in the time you were Anthony DiNardo!?"

"Was it really that hard for you, Zi-Vah?" He spat her name his anger escalating too, it wasn't supposed to play out this way.

"Yes. Tony. It was _that_ hard for me! Worrying that you had some illness, constantly being kept in the dark, knowing you were lying but not knowing the truth." Now she was really angry.

"Well. I'm sorry! I didn't know it was so freaking hard on you!" the tears started to come but he pulled them back. He would not cry.

"Well it was!" She yelled back, a lump pressing against her throat, causing her voice to croak and tears to spill over her eyes.

There was silence. Tony took a deep breath and went to walk out. He reached for the handle but turned around. "Do you really love this guy?" he asked.

Ziva swallowed. "What? Yes."

"Say it."

"What?"

"Say you love him."

"I love him." she said, still angry and not tolerant of where this was going

"Say his name."

"I love Mark."

Tony looked for any indication of a lie and saw none. His heart drooped and the threat of tears returned. She did love him. She loved that guy. As much as it killed him to see, he had to.

"Does he love you?"

"What is this, DiNozzo?" She yelled, calling his by his last name to detach any friendliness. "You think since you could never love me that no one else can!?"

This hit Tony hard.

"What do you mean 'Since I couldn't love you'? In case you don't remember, you were the one who went and slept with another guy! To you it was nothing!"

"Well to you it _was_ nothing! Just another night with another girl for you!"

"That's a damn lie! I loved you! For four damn months I have tried and tried to get rid of every freaking feeling I have towards you and then I find out that you were just in love with some other guy the whole time!" Tony paused and there was silence. Both realising what he had just said.

"You loved me?" she asked quietly, staring into his eyes and moving closer to him until they were just a few feet from each other.

"Yes." he answered, breaking the hold their eyes had on each other.

"Why didn't you say anything?" the anger was back, why was the timing so bad? Why didn't he just say how he felt back then? She loved Mark now. Sure, she loved Tony too but not in the same way anymore. At least she didn't think it was the same way anymore.

"You made it more than clear that it was a stupid mistake to you!"

"Well maybe it wasn't! maybe I loved you too!" she choked up and tears ran down her cheeks "But I love Mark now! You are too late!"

"Why?"

"Because I do not love you now!"

"Why do you love him!?"

There was a pause, the two took a few breaths to calm down.

Definite Déjà vu

"Oh I see." Ziva said quietly, quoting him condescendingly "These are called feelings, Tony."

He saw where this was going and quoted her back, just as mockingly bitter as she to him

"Feelings you need to get rid of?"

"didn't you once tell me the heart wants what it wants?" she asked

Tony's eyes narrowed, she had him. "Well it shouldn't." he spat quietly.

"Well it does, Tony. And you are four months too late, now."

Silence again. She had won but the victory was not sweet. She felt terrible, like there was a hole going through her and something was missing.

"Jeanne all over again?" he asked calmly once the pair had taken a second to cool off.

Ziva looked into his eyes, "You do not know anything about that."

This made him angry. "Really? Ziva? Well maybe You're right! Maybe it wasn't that hard on me!"

Round three.

"Well you did not have to worry about anyone but yourself! You left me to back-up myself the whole time! Leaving the team one missing!"

"Oh yeah, I only had to have my heart broken when she left!"

"And I only had to have my heart broken every second you spent with her!"

"You could have told me!"

"I tried, Tony! I wanted to tell you but what would you have said? You would have just left me standing alone looking like a horse's butt while you went off to be Tony Di_Nardo _with her!" Ziva leaned into his personal space, her face inches from his, her anger radiating.

She kept her face in front of his, her brows tilted angrily, demanding a response. Tony's face softened, realising this was exactly how she had felt though it was worse, he felt his heart rise into his throat and he sighed, the pair still in a staring match.

"I'm sorry." he said softly, all sincerity in his voice. "I shouldn't have come here. I just, I wanted you to know. This is not how it was supposed to happen"

"how was it supposed to happen?"

"Not like this."

Her eyes softened and the pair stared at each other - fully exposed - though they were fully clothed, neither of them had ever felt so naked, everything they ever felt for each other was out in the open, and they were silent. Like the calm morning sunrise after a night of treacherous storms.

"Bad timing." he shrugged, smiling without humour. Ziva's eyes were soft staring into Tony's

"Yeah." Ziva whispered, her heart falling.

He glanced away from the stare and looked at his feet then rising his eyes to meet back to her's again.

"I came to tell you that… I ah… I think I love you… by the way." he smiled, revealing all his teeth, trying to add a little DiNozzo to the atmosphere.

He broke away from the gaze yet again, this time turning the door handle. Ziva grabbed his hand and pulled it off the handle, Tony snapped his gaze to her's. their eyes meeting, Ziva's red from crying, Tony's glassy from unspilled tears.

Ziva held his face in her hands. "I am sorry" she said, leaning in to kiss him on the cheek. They stared at each other for another moment, her hands still on his cheeks. She leaned forward again, this time kissing his other cheek.

The pair stared into each other's eyes for a second. Then Ziva leaned up and lightly touched her lips to his. The kiss held passionately for a second, moving slowly and romantically, the two holding each other just as gently as the kiss itself.

She broke away slowly and shook her head. "I am sorry." she repeated, this time for different reason.

Tony stayed serious, not cracking a smile or a joke, his heart beating faster than ever before.

"Me too." he said, leaning down to touch his lips to her's once again, moving one hand to cradle her jaw and the other to support her waist. She moved too, wrapping her arms around his neck and he responded by slowly continuing the kiss. Softly and gently yet more passionately than she had ever been kissed before.

XXX

**Hope you all enjoyed! :P:P**

**Check out: Past and present by lovetowrite390Is good!! :P:P **


	13. If you can choose

_**Hello there!**_

_**Thankyou everyone SOOO much for the reviews… they make me smile. And laugh. And cry (yep, that's right… I get really emotional about these things)NCIS season 5 is coming out on DVD REALLY soon and I am all pumped up for that! :D:D**_

_**Love you all!**_

_**Here's:**_

_**Chapter 13: If you can choose.**_

_Ziva kept the kiss going, releasing Tony's neck and moving her hands to unzip her jack, throwing it off her back. She moved her hands up his body, the two so close she could barely fit her hands in-between them. When she got to his neck she slipped her arms forward, getting her hand caught on her neck lace causing it to come undone and fall to the ground._

_The two slowly broke away from the kiss, heads touching. They turned their heads to look at the thin, gold chain piled on the floor, A gold ring sitting in the middle of it. The three diamonds glistened in the dim light of her apartment._

_Then reality kicked in._

_Ziva pushed away from Tony, picking up her neck lace and clipping it back up behind her neck._

_Tony moved closer to her, hoping to calm her down _

"_I think you should go." she said, no louder than a whisper, her voice shaky at the realisation of what was happening._

"_Ziva..." Tony tried to change her mind._

"_I cannot do it, Tony." She whispered, tears falling down her face slowly as she opened the door widely._

_He opened his mouth to say something then closed it, realising that it was not going to change her mind. His heart sunk, going back into hiding where it had been for the past three and a half months. Back where it was going to stay._

_He left the room, brushing past Ziva and allowing a single tear to fall down his cheek, brushing it away before it had a chance to go cold against his skin._

_She closed the door quietly behind him, sliding down it until she was on the floor, her hands buried in her face. Her heart was in a million pieces yet it was still beating for Tony. She though of Mark and her heart sank. What was she doing to him? _

_She'd seen the movies, she'd hated the so called 'Heroines' that had done the same thing, She'd thought she'd known herself well enough to never let the same situation fall upon her._

_Her mind went crazy._

_Her lips were still wet from the kiss and the memory of it was vivid in her mind. It took most of her strength not to run after Tony and call him back but she knew it would do no good. She sat for another few minutes, waiting until she knew Tony would definitely be in his car and driving home so she couldn't tempt herself. _

_The kiss played back in her mind time and time again, each time more and more vivid, like each time it played more came back to her. She shook her head and stood up, walking into her bathroom. _

_She turned on the cold tap, letting the water flow into her hands as she splashed it up into her face, trying to wash away the memory. _

_Her thoughts were interrupted by her phone. She walked over to it and picked it up, exhaling._

"_David." she answered in a mono-tone. _

"_Hey Ziva." came the kind voice of her fiancé._

"_Hi Mark." she said, putting on her best happy voice. "Why are you calling?"_

"_I love you too." he said jokingly. "I'm calling to remind you of our run tomorrow - we're still on for 5?"_

_Ziva thought about it. She needed to clear her head and a run always helped her do that but she was now unsure of how she would feel around Mark, though she would never admit it, she was afraid. Afraid that she was in love with Tony. Afraid that if she lost what was there with Mark that she would ruin everything - Tony was probably just wanting something he couldn't have anyway._

"_Okay." she agreed, deciding that she'd see what was going on with her relationship before she had to face Tony again. Never had she ever thought she would be scared to see Tony. The thought almost made her laugh. Almost._

"_Alright. I love you" he said "See you bright and early."_

"_See you tomorrow" she said and hung up the phone, all the while her mind wandering back to Tony and the kiss that was now washed away from her lips._

_XXX_

_Tony opened his apartment door feeling like a total fool. 'what just happened?' he asked himself over and over again, only remembering one minute they were yelling the next they were kissing. He rubbed his brow and threw his keys onto the counter, walking to the fridge and opening a beer._

"_Here's to nothing." he mumbled, throwing it down._

_Though he felt like a real idiot, a part of him still couldn't help but think back to Ziva and the fight, everything slowly returning to him. He touched his lips, remembering the kiss. _

"_Well to you it was nothing! Just another night with another girl for you!" _She had yelled at him.

Tony blinked, trying to remove the night from his memory, he shook his head and another flash came up, Ziva's eyes welling with tears.

"_Well maybe it wasn't! maybe I loved you too!" _She had said.

He ran his hand down his face, balling his fist as it reached his chin - Another flash back.

"… _I do not love you now!" _

A single tear streaked down his cheek and fell, landing on his knee. He was dreading tomorrow.

XXX

Ziva woke up early after a night of almost no sleep at all. She quickly dressed and got in her car, her mind clear and on task - she was going to see Mark, be in love with him and they were going to get married. That was the plan she was sticking to.

She jogged to the bench that they usually met at to find Mark already there.

"Hey." he smiled, running to meet her and kiss her on her lips. The kiss was nice but Ziva couldn't help being reminded of last night, the kiss flashing back into her mind.

"Morning." she smiled and without another word she began to run. Trying to get away from her own mind. Ziva had great power over her mind and physical emotions, she could hide things well and she could lie. Though she had no control of her underlying emotions. Love, for example. She had no power over who she loved and for what reason. She ran harder and harder trying to escape her own feelings.

"_I loved you! For four damn months I have tried and tried to get rid of every freaking feeling I have towards you and then I find out that you were just in love with some other guy the whole time!"_

Ziva ran faster. Her legs hitting the path hard with each long stride.

"_What do you mean 'Since I couldn't love you'? In case you don't remember, you were the one who said it was nothing!" _

Her heart beat faster and faster but not due to the running.

"_I came here to tell you that… I think I love you, by the way."_

That was it. Her legs weakened and she tripped, hitting the pavement hard as gravity took it's force and she was sent to the ground.

"Whoa. Ziva are you okay?" Mark asked, already kneeling beside her.

She shook her head, trying to remember what she was doing to make her fall. "Yes. I am fine." she said getting up.

Mark stood back and helped her up, "We'll go back." he smiled, turning around.

Ziva couldn't be bothered arguing so she agreed, shaking the dust off her body and turning to walk back.

"You better not run before our wedding." Mark smiled and laughed kindly "We don't want our bride in traction for the big day."

Ziva smiled convincingly enough and walked beside her fiancé, her mind all the while flicking back to Tony.

XXX

Ziva walked into the bullpen to find Tony already at his desk. She glanced down at her watch and found he was over half and hour early. Unusual for him.

"Morning Tony." she said, butterflies forming in her stomach. It was so awkward between the two.

Tony looked up and smiled coyly. It was ridiculous that he would feel this way about Ziva. Like he couldn't face her again. Had she been just another date he would have deleted her number and blocked her from his memory by now. But this wasn't any other date, this was Ziva, his partner, the woman who sat across from him every day, the woman who was now engaged to another man. A man that wasn't him.

"Hi Ziva." he said, their eyes holding for a split second.

The two sat in an awkward silence for a few minutes. Finally McGee walked in holding a cardboard tray with three cups of coffee on it.

"Oh thank god" Tony whispered to himself. "Probie. Good morning." he then said with a little too much enthusiasm.

"Thankyou McGee." Ziva said, taking one of the cups. Though she was thanking him for an entirely different reason.

"You guys are here early." he noted, glancing at his watch "Still got twenty minutes."

Tony and Ziva looked at each other then back to McGee. They then broke away from the group and went back to their desks without another word.

McGee was confused, this was very out of character. Usually they would make some sort of joke or have something running between them. He felt like he's walked into the middle of a fight or ruined a moment.

He sat at his desk and opened a new e-mail page.

'Am I missing something?' he wrote then clicked the send button. A second later Tony saw the 'new email' screen pop up in the corner of his computer; he read it and hit the reply button.

'None of your business, McChipper' he wrote back.

McGee wasn't offended at this, it just confirmed that he was, in fact out of the loop.

'You told her, didn't you?' he sent back

Tony was worried, he must have been really bad at hiding things if even McGee was starting to notice.

'Does this concern you?' he shot back.

'Okay.' He finished. Smiling, Tony had told Ziva how he felt and she had clearly not been happy with it. He smiled to himself, happy that he wasn't as out of the loop as he first thought he was.

Tony's eyes narrowed at McGee's smug grin and this didn't go unnoticed by Ziva. They were talking about her and she knew it. She too opened her email, realising where this was going.

'You told him, didn't you?' she asked.

Tony's email popped back up and shot a look at McGee who was now happily typing away. Tony opened it and his heart was sent into flutters realising it was from Ziva. He was nervous, he didn't want to open the email, scared of what it may have said.

'No.' he answered back.

'Liar' she replied. Even in email Ziva could tell he was lying

'He knew yesterday. I haven't told him about last night.' he sent back.

Just then Gibbs appeared behind Tony as he sent the email.

"Agent DiNozzo." he said, making Tony jump "Something you'd like to share with the whole class?" he asked, walking to his desk and placing his coffee down.

"Sorry Boss." he said, closing the page.

"Have we got anything?" McGee asked

"There's been another tip. Three people saw commander Louis going into an apartment in Georgetown. DiNozzo, David. I want you two checking it out. See if you can get vacancy across from him. We need to keep an eye on this guy - if he's hiding the millions, we'll know about it."

Tony and Ziva looked at each other, a hint of panic touching their features. For once, Tony was not excited for a stake-out,

"Well Boss, wouldn't McGee know more, I mean he watches the Antique channel." Tony was borderline begging and this didn't go unnoticed by his boss.

"Antiques road show." McGee correct "And I watched it once."

"I don't really give a crap" Gibbs cut them off. "It wasn't a suggestion, DiNozzo."

Tony nodded, wishing now more then ever that he was back in charge of the team. He picked up his bag, his eyes meeting with Ziva's as they two of them walked out of the bullpen.

They stepped into the elevator silently. Ziva glanced up at Tony's face quickly to find he was staring at her, they both broke away nervously like high school students with adolescent hormones.

She felt her heart beat begin to race and her body try to leap out of her skin. She remembered back to last night. The kiss… so slow and passionate.

She shook her head and tried to think back to Mark, though every single time she thought of him Tony came right back into her mind.

Was she in love with him too?

Was she in love with him again?

And then it hit her. She had to choose. The man of her dreams or the man of her nightmares? The problem was; Which was which?

XXX

**I have a question and I hope you can help me. Okay, so: This girl (Louise) is going out with this guy (Josh) and they are TOTALLY in love… well not in love but they REALLY like each other and are in that pissy start-of-relationship-lovey-dovey faze that pisses us all off so much. Anyway, Louise's friend (Nat) is in love with Josh but has kept it a secret and doesn't want to tell them or anything cause she doesn't want to loose a friend but she sees Josh every day on the bus and can't help but be in love with him… and to make things worse, Louise is catching on and already thinks that she likes him because they are such good friends… **

**What do I do?**

**I mean… what does she do?**

**God I hope people who know me aren't reading this. **

**(the names MAY or may not have been changed for that story. I realise it has nothing to do with NCIS and if you don't want to give me your advice that's fine… but I'd like help… it's all such a mess)**

**Well… Well… what did we all think of that one then? Yay for quick update! :P**

**Anyway, keep the Mark bashing coming. It kinda makes me laugh. I always think of him as this slimy, grease ball but then I remember who I've based him on and realise that he's actually too beautiful for words - though Tony is better. Everyone knows that.**

**Check out:My girl - angel-death-dealer (though I'm sure everyone already has) :D**


	14. Working together

**Hey all! Thanks for the great reviews and more importantly, thanks so much for the… advice. **

**I feel really bad for bringing my personal life into this I promise it won't happen again, that's my bad. I feel like an idiot for bringing this up because we are all only here for the Tiva and now I've dragged everyone into my problems… however, I can't really tell my friends cause that would be awkward. So instead I turn to the NCIS fans.. You guys get me! **

**Hehe**

**Anyway, that's all there is to that and it shall not be brought up again. Thankyou all SO much for the AWESOME advice and great laughs along the way. **

**Enough about my problems, let's go to Tony and Ziva's:**

**Chapter 14: Working Together**

Tony and Ziva stepped out of the car after a short trip of absolutely no words. They walked next to each other toward a dodgy and unsanitary looking apartment building. Ziva laughed - the first noise she'd made since that morning.

"What?" Tony asked, smiling too. For a second they went back to being partners again, like the past few months never happened. For a second only.

"It figures" she smiled, pointing to the 'VACENT - NOW TAKING TENNANTS' sign.

Tony smiled. It wasn't even funny but for some reason he was laughing. He thought for a second and came to the conclusion that it was because when they laughed there was no awkwardness, no tension, just Tony and Ziva.

The pair walked into the building together, the stench of the lobby hitting them hard as they entered. They walked up to the front desk and Ziva hit the bell, possibly a little too hard.

A short, sweaty bald man appeared from a back room and wiped his nose, causing both Tony and Ziva to cringe slightly at the incredibly unattractive sight.

"Can I help you two?" he asked, his voice deep and gravely, like he'd been up all night drinking.

"Yeah." Tony began, leaning forward to read the nametag that read 'Gus.' He laughed internally. Figures. "Gus… You got any rooms facing the west buildings?"

Gus raised an eyebrow at the pair. "Yeah." he said matter-of-factly "We got nicer rooms then that."

"I am sure you do" Ziva said, exchanging a look with Tony.

"Yeah. We got rooms with a nice view of the city. Some big King beds for the pair of ya."

At this, they almost laughed and cried at the same time. "Can we take a look at the ones facing the west buildings?" Tony asked again.

Gus rolled his eyes. "Sure thing." he answered, leading the way.

"And we can discuss the King beds later." he added to the back of Gus' head, cut off by Ziva's elbow hitting his chest. He shot a pained look at her and mouthed 'Ow.'

They followed him down a passageway and up three flights of stairs until they got to a shabby looking door. "Here we are." Gus smiled, unlocking the door to reveal a small room with yellow walls and what would be matching yellow carpet had it not been for the mysterious stains and chewing gum sewn through it, Tony and Ziva smiled at each other, a hint of awkwardness and a touch of shame hitting both their eyes. They broke their gaze and turned back to Gus.

"We'll take it." Tony smiled.

"You don't wanna see the rest?" he asked, scratching his head in confusion.

"No that will be fine. Thankyou" Tony said, closing the door in the manager's face.

XXX

Hours later everything was set up.

Ziva was sitting at the laptop with McGee and Tony was fiddling with a hearing devise about the size of a small satellite.

Gibbs hung up his phone and walked over to the team. "Okay." he began "DiNozzo, David, I want you two on the first shift, McGee and me will take the next one." he said, leaving the room and moving his head indicating McGee to follow. "Call us if Louis goes home"

"See you guys, you know what to do if anything goes wrong." he said, following his boss.

"Catch you later prob-ay" Tony waved, smiling wickedly, McGee knew that Tony had some elaborate prank ready for him and he took great solace in the fact that Tony couldn't pull anything too big because that would anger Gibbs - and when Gibbs was hurt, everyone was hurt.

The door closed loudly and Tony's smile remained as he turned to Ziva.

"Ever been on a stakeout, Ziva?" he asked, knowing it was a stupid question as he knew the answer.

"Yes DiNozzo." she said, not looking up from her position at the hearing satellite, one earmuff over one ear, the other dangling so she could communicate with Tony.

"Okay, let me re phrase the question. Have you ever been on a stakeout with me?" He asked with a grin.

"You know I have not." she answered, her tone bored.

"Well be prepared for the greatest few days you will have at work. Last time it was draining with the probie. He is like a teenager - all he does is whine… just whining all the time… The only thing he's good for is collecting food and he can't even do that right, I mean --"

"Tony?" Ziva interrupted his tangent, calling him over. "Listen to this, I am sure it is Louis." she said, pulling her earphones off so they could both have one ear each.

'I_'ll have the money by tonight' _came the dark voice through the phone, it was kind of eerie. '_she's taken care of, stop worrying. You just bring yourself and we have us a deal.'_

The two agents sat together listening intently, waiting to identify the speaker on the other end of the line.

'_okay._' came a high pitched, seductive female voice from the other end, causing Tony and Ziva to look at each other in confusion. '_are you sure it's over with your wife?_' asked the woman.

Tony rolled his eyes and stood up, dropping the earphones into Ziva's lap.

"false alarm." he said, wandering over to the laptop.

"This is frustrating." Ziva huffed, returning to her previous stance, listening to the boring conversations and trying to find the right one.

"Yeah, but we could make a lot of money blackmailing that guy with the audio we just got." he smiled, flashing his teeth.

"But he said he told his wife." Ziva said, tilting her head on the side, clearly confused.

"No way." he began, standing up "For a federal investigator you really have no idea." he smiled

"well for one. Why would I be trained in marriages? And secondly, how can you tell?" she asked, for the first time turning to give her full attention to the situation.

"Well if that guy had told his wife, she would have tracked down the woman who he was cheating with and tore her a new one - trust me, the mistress would have been abused in person or over the phone by either the wife or the wife's friends. That's what women do."

Ziva smiled and nodded, entertained by his assumption. "Well I cannot say you are wrong on this one Tony, however I would not yell - if a man was ever unfaithful to me I would just shoot him and his other woman." she said matter-of-factly.

Tony smiled "Yes but you are not a regular woman."

There was an awkward tension after that line, both agents flashed back to that afternoon. The rain pelting against the ground…

"… because you're an NCIS/Mossad agent." he added quickly, turning back to his work though it was too late, they both knew what he meant.

The remainder of the day dragged with not much happening. The two talked a bit and slowly it got less and less awkward between them, they began joking and teasing again and that day started to pick up. By the time Gibbs walked in the tension was completely gone.

"Got anything?" Gibbs asked, looking over Tony's shoulder out the window.

"Nothing. Louis hasn't been home all day." Ziva said, rubbing her eyes. It had been a draining few days and the entire team was exhausted. Just as they were about to swap over, a car pulled up out the front of Louis' apartment building. A man stepped out of the car and Ziva pulled a camera, taking pictures of the side of the car before it drove away. The man turned toward the room and Ziva took a picture of his face.

"That's him." Gibbs whispered, putting the earphones over his ears and narrowing his eyes.

The man walked into the building complex, turning on a light on the second floor minutes later.

Gibbs removed the earphones and sighed, rubbing his eyes. "Okay. DiNozzo and David, you two go back to the office, get some rest but I want you to stay with each other, if I need you two I want you here with in minutes and I don't want you in different locations - got anyone to call, call them."

Tony and Ziva nodded, leaving together. Tony grabbed the keys and smiled, whirling them around in his hand. Ziva lashed out quickly and in one smooth movement she was holding them, laughing at Tony's perplexed expression.

XXX

Tony flicked a lamp on in the dark bullpen, everyone in the building had gone home with the exception of Abby who was probably in her lab fast asleep by now.

"Well this is a fun way to spend the night." Tony smiled, turning on his computer.

"Aren't you going to sleep?" Ziva inquired, also hitting the power button on her computer

"Well clearly you aren't either." he said, sitting down.

"It is not going to be a comfortable night's sleep so why not just do work and sleep later?" she responded.

"Well I don't know if I ever told you but--"

"You do your best work at night." Ziva smiled, quoting him "I know."

"Good." Tony smiled, turning back to his computer, typing away.

A few hours passed silently, the only sound to be heard was the clicking of their fingers against the keyboard. Eventually, Ziva sighed and stood up, stretching her arms high above her head and pulling her top up, giving Tony a good view of her figure.

"Giving up, Ziva?" Tony asked, his eyes locked on his screen though he was really focusing on Ziva's

shape in his peripheral vision.

She looked up through her lashes, narrowing her eyes slightly.

"It's okay to admit, Ziva. I'm tired myself." he smiled, turning the screen off and bending behind his chair to pull out a futon folded amongst spare clothes.

Ziva narrowed her eyes in confusion, he really was well prepared in the office.

He measured her expression and leant back again, pulling out another futon. This was too much for Ziva's mind.

"Why do you have two in there?" she asked, catching it as he threw it at her.

"I like to double layer it but I figure for tonight you can have one too." he smiled, leaning back to pull out a small bundle of material, no larger than a football.

"What is that?" she asked, unrolling the futon, staring at him.

"It's a sleeping bag. I only have one of these so if you want some your going to have to snuggle nice and close." he said suggestively, a small ounce of awkward tension filling the small area, realising it was too early to joke about that, the wounds still too open.

"Catch!" he called to her, trying his best to not think about what had just happened.

Ziva looked up and caught the sleeping bag, still in it's small case. As soon as she realised what he was doing she threw it back to straight back to him.

"I do not want it." she said simply.

Tony rolled his eyes and threw it back to her, catching it seconds later. He realised she wasn't going down without a fight so he removed his jacket instead, walking over to her.

She rolled over and stared at him suspiciously, watching his every movement. He kneeled beside her and wrapped his jacket around her. She sat up to remove it but was cut off.

"Compromise" he whispered, walking away.

Her eyes narrowed a fraction and she lay back down slowly, letting his leftover warmth encase her.

Ziva smiled weakly and stared at the ceiling from the flat of her back. She glanced quickly at Tony and closed her eyes, dreading the dreams that lay ahead of her.

XXX

**What will they do??**

**Hehe go easy on Mark, it's not his fault he was born. Just wait, we can all hate him in good time. And we will. Trust me… we will. **

**Check out: **

**Something in a dreamby unique.and.proud**

**Xox mel**


	15. Understanding the senseless

**Why hello there :D:D**

**Thanks so much for the PHENOMINAL reviews (that's right… phenomenal) I appreciate them A LOT and I shall send you ALL joy. Here is more fan fiction:**

**Chapter 15: Understanding the senseless**

Tony sat bolt upright at the shrill, high pitched ring of his cell phone. He rubbed his eyes and checked the caller ID, flipping up the phone.

"Yeah Boss?"

"DiNozzo. Louis just called our tipper, he's on his way out now - I want you and David following him-" Gibbs ordered through the phone, cut off by McGee.

"I've tracked his cell - The GPS coordinates should be in your car by the time you get there." McGee called, not looking up from the computer where he was typing manically.

"catch that, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked, moving the phone from it's position high in the air back to his ear.

"Sure thing boss." The line went dead then and Tony turned in the direction of Ziva to see she was already up, tying her hair into a high ponytail. "Morning." he smiled, glancing at his watch.

"zero five hundred hours to be exact"

"Not a morning person." Ziva smiled back at him, throwing on her jacket and pulling herself up, attaching her side arm and back up.

"No. not really."

"It was not a question." she said, holding her arm out to pull Tony up. He narrowed his eyes slightly at her comment, smiling without humour.

"Louis is on the move, he's about to leave his apartment and Gibbs-"

"Wants us to follow him. Find out what he is doing" she completed his sentence for him, reaching into her top drawer to get two candy bars out. Tony gave her a look of half shock, half contentment; she just smiled at him, tossing him one. "What? You think you are the only one who comes prepared?"

Tony just dipped his head, a smile playing on his lips. "You know the drill - let's go."

XXX

The two had been following Louis for a few miles downtown; after a small debate it had been agreed that Ziva would drive. When following people she was actually a very good driver, she stayed the appropriate lengths behind and never called attention to their position with her usual crazy driving.

Finally Louis pulled up outside a sleazy, unsanitary looking strip club around two miles from where Gibbs and McGee were situated. Tony and Ziva pulled up around 100 yards away behind a Black sedan.

"This place looks right up your street." said Ziva, her lips turning up slightly at the corners of her mouth, her eyes smouldering toward Tony.

"Alley." Tony corrected, leaning forward to grab his cell phone - dialling Gibbs.

"Who is Ally?" She asked, turning to face him, confusion clear on her face.

"You said street and so I--" Tony paused, rolling his eyes. "You know what, don't worry about it."

He put his cell phone to his ear and waited for the call to connect.

Gibbs answered on the second ring.

"Hey boss." Tony said "Louis just went into some sort of strip club. What's our move?"

While waiting for a response, a loud shot rang out through the empty street, causing both Ziva and Tony to instinctively grab their guns and get out of the car, running toward the small building.

They stood both sides of the entrance to the strip joint, crouching low.

"Alright." Tony whispered, pushing the door open slightly so they could see in.

To the side of the dark room lay Commander Louis, lying in a pool of blood with a single bullet wound in his head. Another taller man stood over him, holding the gun, he was the only one in the room besides Louis.

"One. Two. Three." Tony mouthed to Ziva, the two springing to life on 'three'.

"NCIS release your weapon!" Ziva yelled at the same time Tony called "NCIS, Put down your weapon!"

The tall man laughed, his face hidden behind a ball cap and dark sunglasses; however hidden as he was, Tony recognised his face, he squinted slightly and the man laughed again, more heavily this time.

The tall man removed his cap and shades, dropping them to his sides to reveal FBI agent Sacks, still smiling. He flipped open his ID and two other FBI agents came into the room through various side doors. "Sorry NCIS." He smiled "Official business."

Tony's face faltered slightly and he narrowed his eyes, clenching his jaw.

Ziva began laughing, putting her Sig back to her waist. Tony stood for a second, confused but soon too followed suit and began laughing, realizing what was so funny.

"No hard feelings, Slacks." he managed out between laughs. "This one is all yours."

Sacks' face dropped as the two NCIS agents turned and walked out of the room, now safe from any form of paperwork aside from writing all they knew up to the point where they got to say, 'case went under the jurisdiction of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.'

XXX

It was Saturday night and Ziva was exhausted, the past few days had been hard and she had missed out on too much sleep, though as she lay on her couch, staring at the roof, she couldn't close her eyes. Every time she tried to sleep her mind would race to Tony and her heart would plunge into her throat, like there was something she needed to tell him.

A loud knock at the door pulled her out of her reverie and she jumped up, pacing to the door - hoping the whole while that it was only one person.

She opened the door and her face fell slightly, Mark stood on the other side of the doorway, a champagne bottle in one hand and a large cardboard box in the other, he placed the large box down inside her apartment and straightened up, giving his fiancé a funny look.

"Hey Ziva, these are the invitations fresh from the printers. While you were staking out me and mum got it all organised. You won't have to worry about a single thing here; A few of the invitations are blank in case we forgot anyone--" he broke off upon realising what she was wearing "Oh. Honey, you aren't even dressed yet, come on - we're going to be late." he smiled, leaning in to peck her on the lips.

"Oh… Mark." she began, wiping her eyes with the tips of her fingers. "I am sorry - we have been on stake-out, I completely forgot. I am sorry. I do not think I am able to go out tonight."

Mark's smile faltered slightly for a second however he immediately regained his happiness for her sake. "That's fine… I'll go - let you get some sleep. I love you. I'll call you tomorrow." and with that he had kissed her and was gone.

Ziva fell back onto her couch, burying her face in her hands.

What was she doing? She had the perfect man yet she had no desire to be with him. He was a perfect match for her yet she wanted to be with someone the complete opposite.

What was she doing to Tony? She needed to talk to him, even if she had nothing to say she just needed to see him. She needed to settle it once and for all. Before giving it a rational thought she grabbed her keys, an invitation and headed out the door.

XXX

Tony lay in his bed staring at the roof. Though he was utterly exhausted he couldn't fall asleep, his mind in a continuous loop of Ziva. Wondering what he was going to do. He couldn't work with her once she was married - it was just too hard on both of them. But on the other hand he couldn't live without her.

A knock on the door pulled him out of his never ending thought spiral and he got up to answer it, grabbing the first T-Shirt he could find, not bothering to see if it was put on the right way or not.

He looked through the peephole to see a rather stressed looking Ziva, she was pacing back and forward in the corridor, contemplating whether or not to run.

Finally he put her out of her misery and opened the door.

"Ziva." he began, gesturing for her to enter his house. "What are you doing here?"

Ziva slowly went into the apartment, waiting for the door to close behind them. She turned and faced him, her expression neutral.

"I do not know why I am here." she said, "It is as though… I try to ignore these things but they do not go away. I try to outrun them but they somehow catch up to me. But I fear that I am in too far to turn around now."

Tony just absorbed that for a second. He had no idea what she was trying to say to him - he had been messed with so many times over the past few days by her but somehow when he looked into her eyes all that just melted away.

"Ziva…" he began, not knowing quite what to say. "Ziva. What do you want to tell me?"

"I did not think this through." she whispered, moving in closer until their faces were inches apart. She pulled her head up and stared into his emerald eyes, her heart beating against her rib cage.

'I did not think this through' Tony immediately recognised these words, Ziva had used them when she followed him into the men's bathroom that time - trying to 'help' him once Jeanne left. She said he had made a 'grave error in judgement' falling in love with her. What was she trying to say now? Was she saying that she had fallen in love with him too or was he just reading into things too much?

The two stood staring into each other's eyes, slowly leaning in closer until their lips met gently. Ziva coiled her arms around his neck and attempted to deepen the kiss though this only pulled Tony into the reality of what was happening.

He quickly pushed her away, breaking the kiss.

"You're engaged." he said, unable to look her in the eye.

There was a silence and Ziva stepped forward, gazing into Tony's eyes.

"I understand." she lied, lowering her eyes.

"Understand?" he questioned, moving closer to her again "How can you understand something that makes no sense?"

"What choice do we have?" she asked, staring into his eyes, feeling her's glass over.

Tony thought about that for a second. He wanted to do the noble thing and send her home but he couldn't. he couldn't find it in himself to let go of her another time - eventually he was going to run out of chances.

Tony broke away from her powerful gaze and trained his eyes on the large engagement ring that now sat snugly on her finger. He tentatively reached forward and slipped it off, placing it on his counter.

Ziva grabbed his face with her hand and turned it to face her.

"Are you sure?" she whispered

Tony stared into her smouldering, glassy eyes, a single tear spilled over and slipped down his face. "Not really." he answered in a whisper, leaning forward to touch their lips together once more.

XXX

**Ohithere!I hope you liked this chapter. Can Tony and Ziva stay together after all they've been through? Will they finally do the horizontal monster mash like we all want so much?? NCIS in two days on DVD!! :D:D hehe. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Check out:With a snap of his fingers by LitlMissPolkaDot**

**It's really good :D:D**


	16. A month from today

**Hey there - sorry for the late update and also for the short chapter. I think I got the flu… Which is not good… Damn winter shakes fist angrily**

**Oh well. **

**Enjoy this chapter**

**Xox **

**Chapter 16: A month from today**

Tony moved his hands to Ziva's neck and held onto her face, deepening the kiss further. She responded by pushing into him, her hands on his chest, pushing him against the wall.

Tony moved his hands slowly down her body, tracing over her subtle curves until he reached her waist, stopping at the fine strip of skin between the end of her top and the start of her pants. Ziva gasped slightly as his cold hands came into contact with her exposed skin. She felt him grip more tightly and he picked her up, turning around so she was wedged between him and the wall.

Ziva leaned down and deepened the kiss, her legs wrapped around Tony's waist, tightening as he moved away from the wall, carrying her through the apartment - to his bedroom- without breaking the kiss.

Finally he reached his bed and dropped her down, leaning over her, his hands on either side of her shoulders. Ziva responded by leaning up, holding his face in her hands.

It was not the same as last time. Last time they were having fun - they both wanted each other in an optimistic way - but this time was very different, it was urgent, like they only had so much time together, and in a way they did.

Ziva pushed back on Tony, flipping him over so she was on top of him, her hands now beside his shoulder's. She broke the kiss and angled her neck up, gasping for air - but Tony's lips did not leave her skin, they trailed down her neck, stopping at her collarbone. As he was doing this, she moved her hands over his chest, feeling the contours, when she got to the bottom of his shirt she wasted no time in pushing it up his body, pulling it over his head and throwing to the other side of the room.

Ziva bent forward and met her lips to his once more, breaking for a second to let him pull her top over her head…

XXX

Ziva sat staring at the roof, wondering what the hell she had just done.

At the time it had felt good - beyond good, it had felt phenomenal, the two were made for each other but in the very pit of her stomach guilt gnawed into her - she could almost feel Mark's heart break.

What was she going to say? Could she tell him what she had done? If she did, what good would come of it? Even if he - by some miracle- forgave her she still would never be able to forgive herself, she would never be able to look him in the eye without thinking of Tony.

She got out of bed quietly, leaving a snoring Tony behind - totally unaware of her departure - and walked quietly down the hall, throwing on her T-Shirt and sweat pants, ending up in the kitchen/living area where she grabbed the pen and paper that sat next to the phone.

She placed a white envelope with formal handwriting on the counter and leant down to the separate piece of paper, scribbling manically.

"Ahem." Tony cleared his throat in the doorway, causing Ziva to jump, messing up her handwriting. She quickly grabbed the paper and scrunched it into a ball, shoving it into her pocket before Tony could get near her. "What ya doing there, Ziva?" he asked, trying to be light-hearted though the curiosity in his voice was thick with implication.

Ziva just stared at the ground, tears forming in her eyes.

Tony realised immediately what she was doing.

"Oh I see… so you're still having the wedding?" He grinned without humour, letting out a small, hysterical laugh.

Ziva stood still, staring at the ground - not daring to look into his destroyed eyes.

"Tony --" she began.

"Save it, Ziva." he cut her off, the smile wiped clean from his face. "You know, it may have been hard for you when I was with Jeanne but I was never this cruel. You come here, do whatever you want and then still you go and get married to this guy. I may have hurt you but I never knew how you felt. You know where I stand and yet you continue to do what you do. You know what Ziva? Don't worry about having to choose, you don't have to ever wonder what could have been because I'll make it easy for you right now. Take the other guy."

Ziva just stood listening to him, wanting to fight back but knowing he was right. She lifted her gaze to his hurt eyes, bloodshot and glassy from the tears that threatened to spill over at any second.

"I am sorry." she whispered.

"You know, Ziva. You keep saying that but I don't think you are - you apologise and then you go and do the same things all over again." he spoke up now, just short of yelling at her.

"What do you want me to do, Tony?" she yelled, snapping her head up. She moved closer to him until they were only a few feet apart, Ziva staring up into his eyes. "Forget about what I have done. What can I do right now? What do you want me to say?"

Tony stared into her eyes, the threat of tears evident in her's as well.

"say you choose me." he whispered, a single tear finally spilling over, running down his face.

"Do not do this, Tony." she whispered, stepping back.

"If you didn't want me why did you come here, Ziva? To see what it would be like to see me in love, to see what I would do for you? You know--"

"So what if I do love you?" she cut him off "It makes no difference - I am marrying Mark. Do not do this."

Tony stood in silence, narrowing his eyes.

"Well congratulations, you've done it…" he said spitefully, a bittersweet smile on his face.

"I am so--" she started to apologise then stopped, thinking about what he had said. "I will see you on Monday. Please think about the wedding."

"Ziva." Tony called as she grabbed the door handle, "Don't. you have plenty of time to change your mind. You don't have to go through with this."

"The wedding is in a month, Tony." she said, knowing that his reaction to that would not be good.

"A month?!"

"I will see you on Monday." she whispered, leaving the room, it killed her to do that to him - she wanted him more than anything else in the world but it was too late, Mark was Jewish, her father would approve, he earned a good income - what else was needed?

She stopped dead, unhappy with this new decision. It was like someone was literally tugging her in two directions, the one that she should go in and the one she wanted to go in.

She fell to her knees and began sobbing uncontrollably into her hands, letting go of everything. She had been so awful to Tony - he was right, he had been no where near as bad as she had been to him. For the first time in her life she had no idea what to do; with Ari she knew she had known from the start that she would have to kill him, she had been in life and death moments and still known the answer to her problems but now she lay sobbing into her hands, not knowing which path to go down.

XXX

**I feel really mean, I keep separating them. HA.**

**Will they ever stay together?**

**Again, sorry about the short chapter but I'll make it up to you all but long update chapter tomorrow!**

**Check out:**

**Gone by softballchick25**

**Cause It's AWESOME!**

**Xox mel**


	17. Dinner and a show

**Hey, sorry about the late update. **

**Love you all lots**

**Thanks for the reviews**

**Here's:**

**Chapter 17: Dinner and a show**

Ziva drove around Washington for hours, looking for nothing in particular, going no where in particular. Her mind kept going around in circles, she couldn't think of anything else. Just Mark and Tony around and around in her brain. A part of her was hoping for a sign - something to tell her what to do. She couldn't make the decision by herself, for the first time in her life she needed to hand control over to another person.

A loud car horn pulled her back into reality, she looked up to see what the cause of the orchestra of blasting cars was and stepped down on the gas pedal, realising it was her. Finally she decided to go home and have a hot shower. She glanced down at her watch and was shocked to find it was almost 5 pm. Where had the day gone?

Ziva unlocked the door to her apartment and stepped in, pulling out her Sig upon realising that the lights were on and someone else was in the apartment. She stalked through toward the kitchen, gun in hand, to where the noise and light was being produced from. She jumped around the corner and raised her gun "Put your hands behind your head!" she called.

"Woah. Ziva - it's me… Mark. You remember? Your fiancé?" he smiled, though his eyes were secretly worried - even though his father always had guns around the house he still didn't enjoy having one aimed at him.

Ziva lowered her weapon quickly, shuddering slightly because the thought of being a fiancée had brought back guilt.

"Sorry." she smiled weakly, her expression a million miles away.

Mark's face was suddenly serious, he dropped the plate he was cleaning and moved toward Ziva, pulling her into the present day.

"Something wrong?" she asked, putting on her 'I'm fine' façade that she was so good at.

Mark just stood staring at her, wondering where to start. He inhaled slowly.

"Ziva…" he began "Ziva, where were you last night?"

At this she snapped her head up, her stomach plummeting.

"What?" she asked… maybe just a little too quickly.

"I called six times over the course of last night and this morning. I got here at a quarter past ten - you haven't been home all day." Mark's face was sad. His eyes were begging her to lie to him but at the same time he wanted the truth.

Ziva stared into his eyes, her's not faltering for a second.

"I was with Abby"

Mark just nodded his head. "And what were you doing?"

Ziva was about to object to him being so controlling over everything she did but decided she wasn't in a position to argue. "We were discussing things for the wedding - she was… helping me."

"oh!" Mark exclaimed, smiling excitedly. "Well good… you know, Ziva, It's been so long since I've seen everyone. Almost four months. I haven't seen Tim since he got back from his honeymoon…" he trailed off.

At this Ziva almost hit herself in the head - she could not believe she had forgotten. Abby's party was that night, she had invited Mark to tag along. Most likely to keep a better look on him than she had when she first met him.

"Oh. I just remembered. Abby's birthday is tonight. She is having a small party with everyone and she told me to invite you."

"well sure. I mean, I have to go into work so I'll probably be late - what time is it?" he asked, glancing at his watch, unable to hide his nervousness at meeting Ziva's co workers for the first time as her fiancé. These people were like her family - her closest friends. She spent so much time with every one of them and now they were going to judge him - all at the same time.

"It starts at seven."

"Oh well. Yes I'm going to be late. They want me back in the office - I have a lot of paperwork. But I'll be there by nine - I promise."

"Alright then." she smiled, though inside she was totally exhausted. "I am going to get ready. See you at nine."

"Aren't you forgetting something?" he asked with a smile.

"Huh?" Ziva spun around, dazed and confused.

Mark just laughed and walked up to her, planting a soft, passionate kiss on her lips that made her want to cry. The entire time he was kissing her all she could think of was Tony.

"Love you." he smiled, walking out the door.

"Yes… I.. Love you too." she said, fighting back tears.

Ziva showered and got dressed in a numb state, her stomach in small flips the entire time. She was at the same point of indecision that she had been in that morning, it had taken her all day to get rid of it and it was back again.

She was dressed casually, just jeans and a nice white halter neck top. Though the dark clouds outside threatened rain it was still warm.

She sighed and slipped on her shoes, checking her reflection on her way out.

XXX

Ziva pulled up outside Abby's house and took three deep breaths, her heart beginning to beat faster.

"_What is wrong with you?_" she scowled herself, sick of feeling like such a girl. Not that being a girl was a bad thing but her feelings were beginning to cloud her judgement. "_Snap out of it_"

She pulled herself out of her thought spiral and climbed out of the car, not allowing herself to worry about what she was going to say to Tony or what he was most likely going to do when he saw her and Mark together. She shook off that thought and knocked on the door, internally praying that Tony wasn't there already.

"Coming!" Abby's faint voice came through the wood. A few seconds later the door was wide open, Abby standing with a frown on her face. "Where's the fiancé?" she pouted.

"He will be here later on - he has to work." Ziva responded.

Watching Abby's face light up made Ziva realise that she had to tell her that she was her cover for being at Tony's last night.

Abby saw Ziva's face darken and immediately realised something was off.

"Ziva…" she began, opening the door wider for her to enter. "Something you need to tell me?"

Ziva's head snapped up, a visible 'how did you know?' in her eyes.

Nothing more needed to be said, Abby grabbed Ziva's hand and tugged her into the closest room - the guest bedroom.

"What happened?" she asked, pushing Ziva down at her shoulders, sitting her onto the bed.

"Nothing 'happened' Abby." Ziva began, trying her hardest to be convincing though the guilt gnawing at her insides made it hard. "I just… If Mark mentions anything about me being with you last night and this morning can you play along?" she asked, her eyes begging "Please, Abby."

Abby scrunched up her nose, confusion all over her features.

"I don't like to lie, Ziva." she said "So could you please tell me why I am?"

Ziva stared at the ground, not saying anything.

"Okay - If you can't tell me what you were doing can you at least tell me where you were?"

Ziva continued to stare at the ground, tears filling her eyes.

"I was… ah.." she began, forcing the tears back before trying again "I was with Tony." she whispered, closing her eyes for the reaction.

Abby stared blankly at Ziva.

"Wait. You mean you were… _with _Tony?" she asked for clarification.

"It was a mistake, I cannot - I do not know… I…" Ziva fell into Abby's arms, silent tears pouring down her face. They stayed like that for a while until Ziva composed herself, sitting up with a deep breath.

"I am sorry Abby - I do not know why I have been like this lately."

"I do." Abby responded, giving her an 'Isn't it obvious?' look.

Ziva's brow furrowed in confusion

"Ziva - you clearly don't love Mark. I mean, me and McGee always knew you and Tony would get together - we used to make bets on it all the time."

Ziva sat for a while, absorbing this.

"Abby, even if you are right there is nothing we can do. I have agreed to marry Mark - I can not go back now - it is too late."

Abby just shook her head.

"It is never too late, Ziva. If you want my advice, I think you should tell Mark as soon as possible, the longer you leave it the harder it will be to go back."

"It makes no difference now, anyway." Ziva said, standing up.

"What are you talking about? Ziva, I've seen the way Tony looks at you…"

"You did not see the way he looked at me this morning. This is not the first time I have done this to him… On the day I announced my engagement… Tony… he was not coping so well…" She began, feeling even more guilty re counting the stories. At first she only felt bad for cheating on Mark but reliving how terrible she had been to Tony made her feel a million times worse.

"Go on, Ziva. It's okay" Abby comforted

"He came to my house and we had a fight… He said that he loved me all along and it was my fault for what happened four months ago…"

"On our wedding!!" Abby exclaimed, sitting up - all the pieces falling into place.

Ziva just stared at the forensic scientist, confusion on her face.

"How do you know about that?"

Abby rolled her eyes.

"Come on Ziva." she scoffed "Even Palmer noticed that something was hinky there."

Ziva just nodded and continued her story "well we… somehow… kissed… and once I realised what we were doing I pulled away but I…" she faded away, getting angry "Why is the timing always out for us? Cannot something just go right for us?"

Abby shifted her position to face the Mossad officer, her eyes serious and wise.

"Ziva." she began "The timing is out because of things like this… you have the chance to make things right but you are too scared of getting hurt - why else would you stay with Mark. Like I've said, you don't love him. If you want perfect timing, you are going to have to be the one to make it."

Before Ziva could respond there was a loud knock at the door. Abby sprung up and ran to the door, opening it to find an unshaven, rugged looking Tony standing with a bottle of wine.

"Happy birthday, Abs" He smiled, enveloping her in a hug, the whole time he hugged her he was looking at Ziva who was leaning against the door, staring right back at him…

XXX

**Well this is just going around in circles isn't it? However there is some real good Mark hating stuff coming up. Any suggestions are welcomed with open arms :D:DCheck out: **

**Jeanne's return by Mere-Bear-Maryy**

… **Shudders… Jeanne**

**Xox Mel**


	18. Last thing we need

**HI THERE! **

**Well I wasn't going to update today but I found out off someone that it was softballchick15's birthday and I was like: my present can be updating.**

**And so it is. **

**Anyone else wants to use their birthday to get me to do something for them (make them an NCIS video, write them a fic, make an NCIS wallpaper ect.) my email is ncis . is . (ignore the spaces, fan fiction doesn't like my addresses for some reason.)**

**Anyway, thanks so much for the suggestions though most of them were Mark killing ones and to that I simply say: all in good time :P**

**Hehe**

**Happy birthday, softballchick15!**

**Here's:**

**Chapter 18: Last thing we need**

The party was dragging. Ziva wanted to talk to Tony - to apologise and work things out, though he managed to remain one step ahead the entire time, only being alone when he was sure she was no where near him.

He left the group discussion and walked inside, sure Ziva could not see him. He rounded the corner and sighed in relief, stopping abruptly at the sight of the one person he couldn't stand to see. She sat on the ground, staring at her feet, a sad look on her face.

For himself, he wanted nothing more than to turn and leave but just looking at her made him want to envelop her in his arms.

He came to a compromise with himself and walked closer, standing over her. Upon realising someone was with her she looked up, her heart skipping a beat at who that person was.

"Mind if I sit?" he asked, forcing one of his most charming smiles.

Ziva shook her head and moved over. He slid down the wall and sat next to her, staring into her rich brown eyes. They sat in silence, neither daring to say the words they wanted to shout.

"Tony--" Ziva began finally, turning toward him.

"I know, Ziva…" Tony whispered, smiling without humour. "I know."

She simply nodded and turned to study his face, her heart racing as their eyes met.

"… so how are the plans coming along?" he asked after a long silence.

Ziva scrunched up her face in confusion - she thought the wedding would be the last thing he wanted to talk about.

"Mark's organising everything… I just need to get my dress. I have no one to help with that either."

"Well… you have Abby." Tony responded, smiling jokingly.

"I do not exactly… trust her judgement…" she replied, happy that he was smiling. She hadn't seen him smile in a few days.

Tony smiled and relaxed, leaning his head against the wall.

"I could… I mean… If you want I'll help you with the dress thing."

Ziva turned toward him, momentarily second guessing who was actually talking.

"Are you sure?" she asked, shocked.

"Not really." he smiled. "But hey - there could be some single hot bridesmaids from other weddings…"

Ziva rolled her eyes and smiled, resting her head back, she glancing down to her watch, 8:55. Almost on cue there was a loud knock at the front door, Ziva's stomach filling with butterflies.

"Got it!" They heard Abby call down the hallway, running to get the door. She opened it wide and smiled at the new guest. "Hello Mark… Come in, I'll get Ziva for you, she's in here. I think she's with Tony - not 'with with' Tony, just 'with' him… talking to him…" she rambled

Tony smiled without humour and stood up, shaking his head.

"Tony…" Ziva tried to stop him as he walked away. She felt terrible, it must have been so hard for Tony to even look at her but to meet her fiancé was asking too much of him.

She walked into the next room and greeted Mark with a kiss on the cheek.

"Hey Ziva." he smiled,

"hey" she smiled, not showing a whole lot of enthusiasm though Mark did not press the matter, writing it off as her simply being tired.

"Sure thing." he beamed, trying to compensate for her lack of eagerness.

Ziva nodded and without another word led him through the house to the main dining room where Gibbs, Ducky, McGee, Jimmy and Holly sat. she immediately realised that Tony was missing and got a sinking feeling in her stomach.

"Mark, you remember everyone?" she gestured toward her boss and he stood up, offering his hand.

"sure thing," Mark smiled, accepting Gibbs' hand "Jethro." He then moved onto the next person, Ducky at shook his hand with a smile.

Mark turned to the third person sitting around and his mind went blank, he hadn't met this one. Holly stood up, recognising his expression.

"Hi, nice to meet you - I'm Holly." she smiled, shaking Mark's hand.

"Jimmy, Jimmy Palmer." Jimmy said, standing up to reach over and shake hands with the new party member. Mark smiled and turned to McGee

"Hey Tim, good to see you again, man." his smile widened.

"Hey Mark, congratulations." McGee tried to be happier for him than he felt. Sure, Mark was his best friend and he was happy for him but he knew what it was doing to Tony and even to Ziva. It wasn't what anyone wanted.

The group talked for a few minutes, mainly about Mark and his life, they were suddenly interesting into the handsome stranger, judging whether or not they liked him. Gibbs' gut was on the case.

Finally Tony walked in and a tension filled the room, everyone knowing he wasn't happy about the whole situation though no one in the room - besides Ziva and Abby - knew the situation.

Ziva stood up and walked toward her partner.

"Mark, you remember Tony?" She tried her best to force a calm and smiley façade as she stood between the two men she was torn between.

"Nice to see you again, Tony." Mark said, suddenly feeling jealous upon seeing his fiancée standing next to this man.

"Likewise…. Mark, is it?" Tony accepted his hand in a monotone.

"Yeah."

"Congratulations…" he said, gesturing toward the table.

"Thankyou…" Mark said, narrowing his eyes suspiciously to the back of Tony's head… something was definitely up, he knew that much.

XXX

Mark and Ziva sat in the car together silently.

"so…" Mark began after a minute or so of silence. "Everyone seems nice."

"Yes. I think you made a good impression. Do not take it personally if they are not warm and fuzzy toward you right away… they haven't seen you for a while…." she said, smiling slightly.

"no - they were fine…" he trailed off "You partner..."

Butterflies formed in Ziva's stomach. "What about him?" she asked, realising that he was getting at something.

"Nothing… just. Was there ever anything between you two… in the past…?" he asked, the implication thick in his tone. "I mean, I know that you two were close at the wedding but was there… more?"

Ziva considered lying but saw no point to it. So what if her and Tony had been 'together' in the past, he didn't need to know anything else.

"Um we had a small… cling…"

"You mean 'fling?'" he asked, his fears confirmed. "how long ago was it?"

"we were… on and off, yes?" Mark nodded, confirming her phrase

"We were on and off… nearly a year ago and then five months ago. But it is over now…"

"Five months?" He asked, shocked "He was the guy before me? The one you were in love with that didn't love you back!?"

Ziva cringed - whoops.

She should have thought about that one.

She drove forward in silence and pulled over the car, turning to her fiancé.

"Mark…" she began "Yes, I loved him. Yes, we had a small 'fling'. but it is over now." she said, for the first time actually telling him the truth.

Mark sighed and looked down. "That's not what I'm worried about, Z"

"Then what?" she asked, staring into his eyes, she owed him that much.

He exhaled heavily. "I think that he is still in love with you. I don't think you were right in saying he never loved you."

Ziva had no idea how to respond so she laughed. "Mark." she began, "Tony is not in love with me…"

"Ziva." he sat up, animating his point. "You didn't see the way he was looking at you tonight… it was.. Weird. Every time you moved he would kind of revolve around you - like he was protecting you."

"He is my partner, we put our lives in each other's hands every day… he is bound to be… protective." she said, not faltering in her lie.

"But Ziva… You didn't see the way he was looking at you. I'm telling you he loves you." He said, showing no sign of being swayed in his opinion.

She exhaled and looked into his eyes "Even if he does love me - which I doubt - it makes no difference, nothing is ever going to happen between us again" she said, and she was telling the truth - he wouldn't want her again anyway.

"It only takes one slip-up, Ziva."

"What do you want me to say, Mark? Do you want me to quit my job? There is nothing I can do, if I quit I go back to Tel Aviv…"

"Well, not if you marry me, you don't." he said under his breath "And that's not what I'm saying, I just think you should watch what he does around you."

"How am I supposed to do that? He is my friend, Mark - I am not going to avoid him."

Mark looked down, he was considering backing down but he felt too strongly about it to do that.

"Okay. I get that." he said, finalising his argument though he knew in his heart that he was right.

Ziva started up her mini again in silence, uncomfortable with Mark's suspicions, they were the last things she needed on her conscience.

"Ziva…" he started after a long, tension filled silence. "When are you going to get your wedding dress?"

Ziva sighed, she had completely forgotten about Tony agreeing to help her with her dress.

"I am going this week…"

"Have you got anyone to go with you?" he asked, trying to make casual conversation - oblivious to the fact that he was not going to like the true answer.

"Yes, Abby is going to help me pick it out." she lied, not wanting to open that can of worms.

"Oh good. Do you know what you are looking for?"

"I have no idea." she answered, pulling up outside his house.

"Okay. I love you, Z. I'm sorry about before." he smiled, kissing her on the lips.

"Love you too." Ziva responded, driving off the second the door shut. She sped down the road, her stomach doing small flips. Mark was not stupid, she knew that much - he would eventually find out about what happened somehow.

XXX

Tony lay staring at his roof, unable to sleep again. Maybe he had been harsh on Mark - the whole situation was not his fault…

Out of no where there was a loud knock on the door. Tony sat up and checked his watch, surprised at who could be calling in at midnight.

"Ziva, is that you?" He called, walking toward the door.

He opened the door and stepped back, surprised to find Mark standing, arms folded.

"Hey… Mark. What are you doing here?" he asked in a rather hostile tone.

"Good evening, Mr DiNozzo. I think I should come in for this…"

XXX

**Ewwww… Mark… **

**Check out:Denying it by ncis.is.the.best :P**


	19. The rules

**Thankyou for reviews. **

**I love you all!**

**Chapter 19: The rules**

Tony sat on his couch, staring at the man standing parallel to him. The man who was taking Ziva away from him.

"Alright" Tony grumbled, rubbing his eyes as he stood up and walked over to his kitchen, sick of the silence. "I'm making some coffee, you want any? I'm not very good at--"

"Does Ziva come here often, then?" Mark cut him off, staring at the ground, anger and implication in his blue eyes.

Tony sighed internally and turned on his coffee pot, staring at Mark, guilt hitting him hard.

"She used to. Not anymore." he answered, turning back to his cupboards, pulling out a mug. "you sure you don't want anything?"

Mark raised his head, his eyes boring into Tony's scull. "Why were you asking if it was Ziva just now, then?"

The mug slipped out of Tony's hand and hit the bench top a little too hard. He turned around to face the jealous fiancé.

"It's midnight, I wasn't exactly expecting a social call. Sometimes we have work and she picks me up. Sometimes I pick her up."

"Yeah well. Don't anymore." Mark said loudly, his eyes boring into Tony's.

"I'm sorry… what?"

"She has a car, I assume your car was the shiny mustang outside. There is no need for you to pick her up unless your boss asks you to."

"And how are you planning on telling Ziva all of this?" Tony asked, pouring the dark liquid into his mug slowly.

Mark stood in silence, staring.

"She doesn't love you, you know." he said quietly.

This hit Tony hard. He placed his mug down and took three deep breaths, using all of his willpower not to either tell Mark about the kisses - and other physical pursuits - or punch his pretty face in right there and then.

"I may not be a trained investigator, Anthony; but I am not blind. I see the way you look at her, the way you stare at her. She seems to be under the delusion that you are 'just friends' but I know better." he hissed.

Tony stood with a blank face, his eyes tightening slightly at the man's warning.

"Just so you know… Mark." Tony began, lowering his voice "There are many mysteries about Ziva David that you will never, ever know. You think marrying her gives you rights to her mind? She is not going to change once she says 'I do' and you know that."

Mark's eyes narrowed into slits.

"Alright. But just so you know… Anthony" he hissed "I will be fighting for her. I am warning you to keep away from her because if it's a fight you want, I. Will. Win."

Tony scoffed and took a sip from his cup.

"Alright. But I think it's only fair to warn you that I am Ziva's partner… You know, the 'policeys' code. She has to back me up." Tony said in a smart-ass tone, jousting his jaw.

Mark turned to walk out. He turned the door handle and stopped half way, turning to face Tony.

"Oh and Anthony. You are invited to mine and Ziva's engagement party this weekend. You can bring someone along if you want." he said, smiling smugly.

"That's fine." Tony smiled, lifting his glass before taking a sip "Is there anything you wanted me to pass on to Ziva for you when I see her tomorrow?"

Without another word, Mark was gone, slamming the door shut on his way out.

Tony leant on his counter and rubbed his brow. He opened his eyes and saw something shiny in the corner of his eye, he turned toward the object and his stomach dropped. Ziva's engagement ring sat on the counter, half hidden by a newspaper.

Tony walked toward it and picked up the fragile ring in his hand, the night before flooding back into his memory.

XXX

"Somebody shoot me now!" Tony called, shaking his hand out in front of him, a pained expression on his face.

Ziva and McGee ignored his calls, continuing with their paperwork.

"Three days!" he continued, well aware that no one was paying him any attention "Two days I can handle - maybe even two and a half but three days of solid paperwork is too much!"

"And you will have no more days if you do not shut up." Ziva spat at him, rolling her eyes.

"You could be done by now if you weren't complaining so much." McGee called, sitting back in his chair, a huge grin spread across his face.

Tony narrowed his eyes at his contentment and sat up. "What are you so happy about, McVirgin? You know you and your computer can never… _be_"

McGee narrowed his eyes slightly at this remark though his smug grin remained.

"_I_ finished."

Tony groaned and rolled his eyes, throwing his pen at the screen in front of him.

"How are you finished?" he yelled.

"He was quiet!" Ziva hissed, throwing one of her pencils at his head before returning her attention to her computer, ignoring the scowl from Tony as she did so.

She glanced to her computer clock and sighed, 12.30. Time was running out; she needed to go shopping for her dress soon.

"What's on the old mind, Zee-vah?" Tony asked, now standing over her desk, glancing down.

She shook her head slightly, confused as to how one person could have such a short attention span.

"I need to get my dress." she sighed.

"Oh…" Tony nodded, suddenly remembering Mark's warning at the same time Ziva recalled lying to him about who she was taking to help her out. "Well it's paperwork day… Why don't we go now?"

"Because you haven't cleared it with me, DiNozzo" Gibbs asked, walking into the bullpen, coffee in hand.

"Wedding emergency, Boss… the bride needs to buy her dress." Tony called, surprised at how easy it was for him to discuss the wedding out loud when inside it was ripping him apart. "hey boss, you've been married a lot of times, you wouldn't happen to have a spare dress - or five - hanging around the house… or not… I was just kidding… Sorry Boss"

"Hey DiNozzo." Gibbs said, placing his coffee onto the table.

"yeah boss?" Tony asked, standing to attention, surprised he hadn't been hit yet.

"I want you to try something. Hold your hand out flat like this…" he began, holding his hand out in front of him, all his fingers in line. "Good. Now I want you to lift it up and hold it over your head."

Tony obeyed, dreading what his boss was getting at

"What now boss?"

"Now I want you to slam it forward as fast as you can."

Tony obeyed, groaning quietly as he hit himself in the back of the head.

"Probably deserved that…"

"Officer David." Gibbs began, turning to the desk to his right.

"Gibbs." Ziva responded, looking up.

"Go get your dress."

"Okay." Ziva said, packing her things into her bag. "Um… I have no--"

"DiNozzo, go with her." Gibbs cut her off, sitting down at his desk.

The two obeyed and paced to the elevator in silence. Waiting patiently for the doors to open. The elevator chimed and the two stepped in together, both knowing full well they were doing the wrong thing; yet both finding it so hard to care.

XXX

**OOOOOOHHHHH Mark will not be happy if he finds out… **

**Hehe yay for Tony and Ziva rebelling. Mark will get worse. **

**Check this out: **. Twenty Three Minutes Till Midnight by angel-death-dealer

**Xox Mel**

**XXX**


	20. Breaking them

**Hey all - sorry for the late update! My sister was finishing her main year 12 (senior year for my American friends) assessment thingy and she commandeered the laptop. **

**But I'm back! Enjoy: **

**Chapter 20: Breaking them**

"What do you think of this one, David?" Tony asked, pulling out a full length white gown with frills all over it.

Ziva stared it up and down, shooting daggers at the garment - her gaze was answer enough to force Tony to put the frill-fest back on the hanger where it belonged.

"You know, _Tony_." she began, putting emphasis on his name "For a man who came here to help - you are not _helping_"

"Well, Ziva first of all, you were well aware that wedding dresses was not my for-tay when you hired me." he beamed, turning away from the racks to focus her full attention. "And second…"

Ziva waited as Tony thought of something to add.

"Second…?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Second, It's not my fault that some people have no taste. There's nothing here. Come on, I know a place." Tony said, walking out of the store closely followed by Ziva.

"You know a place?" Ziva asked in disbelief, slamming her car door shut and starting the engine.

"I didn't want to do this, David but you've forced me to.…" He said, pulling out his cell phone. Before Ziva had a chance to question further he held his hand in the air, stopping her from pursuing the matter.

"Aunt Trisha?" he called into the phone, his body language clearly uncomfortable. "Yes… Good to talk to you again… I missed you too… Look, Trisha, I need a favour… No, I'm not getting married, it's a - a friend of mine. Will you be open? Alright. Love you too. Bye."

"Aunt Trisha?" Ziva asked with an inquisitive smile.

"We're in unchartered waters now, Ziva" He sighed heavily and turned to her with no expression. "Drive" he ordered.

Ziva smiled and hit the gas pedal, surging the car forward without fully knowing where she was going.

XXX

"Oh Tony!!" Wailed a tall, slim woman, running toward her niece "Oh welcome! I haven't seen you in years, I have missed you!" She wailed, pulling him in for a hug that was enough to contest Abby.

"Hi, Aunt Trisha…" Tony squirmed under the bone crushing hug until finally he got away. "This is my friend, Ziva David."

"Nice to meet you." Ziva smiled forcedly, being pleasant was not something that came naturally after hours of endless searching for gowns with a not-so-helpful co-worker.

Trisha flicked her rich brown hair behind her ears and pushed Tony out of the way to get a full length view of the girl. From the smile on her middle aged face, she was impressed.

"Oh Tony! Well just look what you brought me. She's lovely. Delightful. I am so glad we're closed because I wouldn't want anyone to have to live up to the standard you will set. Come with me."

Before they knew it, Trisha was walking deeper into the store, giving Ziva a chance to measure up the building. It was a huge room with stark white carpeting juxtaposed with Dark mahogany counters. Ziva looked to where Trisha had disappeared behind and her eyes bulged slightly to see three mannequins wearing the most exquisite dresses she had ever laid eyes on. Behind the mannequins was a clear window standing from floor to ceiling with water dripping down behind it giving the impression it was rain.

"What is this, Tony?" Ziva whispered once she found her voice.

Tony smiled, slightly confused - it was not every day that Ziva David was in shock. "My Aunt sort of owns one of the best bridal shops in the city…" he said, staring at the ground "Rich, remember?"

"Come on, my dear!" Trisha called from behind the elaborate fountain. Tony and Ziva quickly paced to the sound of her voice. They walked behind the water feature to an even larger room than the last with two more mannequins wearing even nicer dresses than before were surrounded by large arrangements of white roses that stood taller than Tony.

He let out a low whistle as Trisha walked back to the pair, gown in hand. "5 foot 10?" She asked

Ziva nodded, still trying to decipher whether this place was real or not.

"I knew it." she smiled, "come with me."

Without another word Trish led Ziva to a large white curtain and pushed back the fabric to reveal a large dressing room.

"Strip." She ordered, not turning to give the agent her privacy. Ziva was too stunned to do anything other than abide until she was down to her undergarments.

"Thankyou so much for doing this." she slipped in before Trisha had another chance to go on another rant.

"Think nothing of it my dear, you are a friend of Anthony, you are a friend of mine." she smiled "And you are doing me a great honour. This was my very first project, I designed this dress when I was ten years old. It had taken me near 40 years to master it and you are the first to wear it… be proud"

Ziva had no idea what to say to this. This woman, this perfect stranger was being so nice to her, too nice to her.

"Thankyou." she stuttered, staring at the ground. Though wearing this woman's dress was such a huge privilege her mind could not leave Tony. How could she repay him? She had been so bad to him and he had been so nice to her. What was she doing?

"Think nothing of it" Trisha interrupted her thoughts again. "Arms up."

Ziva abided and let the fabric fall over her body, surprised to find the dress fit perfectly.

Tears formed in Trisha's eyes "Oh you are too lovely, Ziva. I'll go prepare Tony." she said in her unusually fast pace - her tone of voice contradicting the emotion that came from crying.

Tony stood staring into the rain fountain, he put his hand into his pocket and suddenly felt the small round object that he'd forgotten about up till that point.

"Be prepared" Trisha whispered into his ear as she walked past, leaving to give the two some privacy - she may have been the most annoying person in the state but she was not blind, the two had something.

Tony simply rolled his eyes at her and continued to stare at the water feature. "Trisha?" he called her back "how is she supposed to pay for this? Have you even seen the prices on your own garments?"

Her eyes narrowed in defence "No charge for the friend." she said and walked away slowly.

Tony smiled confusedly as he watched her walk away.

"Ahem" a gravely voice interrupted his thoughts. Tony turned to face the noise and did a double take. Standing in front of him was the most beautiful creature he'd ever seen in his entire life.

Ziva stood wearing a light cream strapless silk number that hugged tight to her body, bunching at the sides to show off her delicate physique. Once the dress got to her waist it went out around her bottom half, with intricate bunches of silk surrounding it. Spirals of tiny beads surrounded the top half and the light cream brought out the beauty in her tan skin.

"Wow." he whispered to himself "Hey, Ziva." He smiled.

"Does it look okay?" she asked, spinning around to reveal her entire back, going so low as to show the two dimples that sat on her lower back.

"That's not even fair" he said half to himself, half to God. "You look… Wow."

Ziva eyed him suspiciously and walked closer to him, a smug smile forming casually on her lips. The two stood mere feet from each other, staring into the others eyes. Finally Tony brought up the courage to open his hand slowly, revealing the diamond ring she'd left on his bench and forgotten about. Her eyes bulged slightly and relief washed through her.

"how did…" she began then trailed off quietly

"Here." he said quietly, picking up her delicate hand to nestle the ring snugly on her second finger.

"Thankyou." she whispered, hanging her head. Tony stood forward and opened his arms, letting her step into them. He rested his chin on her head and closed his eyes, wishing with all his heart that they could stay that way for ever.

Outside the store Mark sat in his car, his knuckles gripping the steering wheel so hard they had turned white. He leaned over and grabbed his cell phone, hitting two on his speed dial.

"Yeah John? You know that situation we were talking about the other night? I think I'm going to need you after all…"

XXX

**It's next chapter - we shall all hate him next chapter. Well judging from half the reviews, I'm going to change that to 'hate him more'. hehe well I hope you enjoyed that. I realise it was a bit out of character - particularly Ziva - but since when was visiting a bridal shop ever a realistic plotline in NCIS anyway? Those arguments aside, however, Ziva will come back into character next chapter - I promise. **

**Love you all lots!**

**Oh my god - you all need to check out Roberto Pitre's new album cause Cote de Pablo is the vocalist. She is AMAZING. She sounds like one of those old French singers (though not singing French)**

**She sings 'Samba in Prelude' and 'Cry me a river'**

**It's awesome. **

**Check out:**

**Last name by GoDale13**


	21. The party

**Hello there. **

**Again, I am so sorry for the late update! It's been nuts around here (so much so that I haven't even had a chance to read anything new sigh or review anything on fan fiction so unfortunately I have nothing for you all to check out as I have not checked it out myself.)**

**But here is the next chapter**

**14 days till season 6**

**SQUEALS**

**I want to finish this before the new season so I'll be updating quickly. **

**Love you all - thankyou so much for staying with me. **

**Xox Mel**

**Chapter 21: The party**

Tony, McGee and Abby stepped out of Tony's silver mustang that glistened in the dark, undecided of how they felt about the whole thing. Abby was wearing a black cocktail dress and McGee and Tony were dressed in black dinner suits.

"I'll be in in a minute." Tony said as he unlocked his boot manually, waving the two inside with his free hand.

Abby and McGee simply nodded and entered the warm building deciding at once that it was not worth worrying after Tony's mysterious activities.

Once sure they were out of sight, Tony lifted his trunk and leant down, pulling out a hidden nook that had taken him years to realise existed. He put his hand into the nook and picked out a small box. Before anyone else could see what he was doing he shoved the tiny box into his pocket, vowing to wait for the right moment.

Tony inhaled the night air slowly and deeply before turning to enter the reception building. Mark had gone all out. The reception was a large, fancy hall with a single, huge table on a small patch of carpet - small only in comparison to the dance floor.

"He's here." Mark murmured quietly to a large man with jet black hair that was slicked back tightly. "Whenever you need to, John…"

"I will take care of him." came the deep, gravely reply.

"John." Mark called before he could walk away "Nothing too drastic. Keep clear of the face - these people are trained investigators."

"I will take care of him" he repeated.

"John" Mark called for the final time "You are a good friend."

John nodded and walked away upon spotting Ziva walking toward him - like Mark had said, they were all trained investigators; he wasn't stupid enough to let them catch on to his plan. It was a risk, but a risk he was willing to take.

"Who was that?" Ziva asked, surprised - yet incredibly relieved and happy - that she didn't have to greet that certain guest. Immediately her stomach churned and she knew something was not right.

"John. He'd a very good friend of mine." Mark smiled in return. "Oh, look who's here now. Hi Anthony, how are you?"

"Mark." Tony nodded, outstretching his hand. Mark glanced at it and accepted. "Ziva." He nodded again, his eyes lighting up upon the sight of his partner. Though it hurt him to see her with Mark, he knew something was changing - like she was unsure of her decision - and a second of indecision was all it could take.

"Hello, Tony." Ziva smiled, her eyes too lighting up much to Mark's distaste.

The two stood staring into each other's eyes for a second too long, causing Mark to become uneasy "Alright." He smiled forcedly "Tony I think everyone else is here so you can go mingle. Ziva will be down in a second." he dismissed him.

Tony smiled at Mark with a hint of smugness and walked away, not looking forward to the party at all.

XXX

Tony glanced down at his watch and found it was only 21.30 though it felt like the party had been going for days already. He blinked twice and scanned the room, for the first time over the course of the evening actually seeing the only person he wanted to see walk alone into an empty room. Without thinking he jumped up from his chair and paced to the other side of the space, catching up to her. He rounded the corner and saw her leaning against the wall, her head back.

"Hi there." He smiled crookedly, leaning against the wall to face her.

Ziva simply nodded in reply, her eyes closed.

"Not having a fun night?" he asked, the dumb grin still planted on his lips.

"I am not a people person." she said half to herself half to him.

"And you only realised that tonight? Jeez, David - even the probie knew that one."

Ziva opened her eyes and glared at him.

"Not the night? Okay then." he responded, deciding now was as good a time as any to give her his present. "How do you feel about magic tricks?"

Ziva continued to stare daggers at him, her eyebrows turning up in confusion.

"What do you want, Tony?"

"I want you to close your eyes and cross your arms behind your back." he smiled.

She simply rolled her eyes "Why?"

"Because with your eyes closed you can't ruin the surprise and if your arms are safely behind your back you wont hurt me." he explained, "Now shut your eyes and put your arms in a safe place."

Ziva sighed and obeyed, standing up straight.

"Eyes closed? Good…" Tony began, pulling the necklace from his pocket to inspect it one last time. It was beautiful and intricate, just like her. It was a gold star of David necklace with tiny diamonds outlining it. He smiled to himself and clipped the necklace around her neck "Alright… open"

Ziva opened her eyes and glanced down at the new addition to her ensemble. She moved to the mirror and inspected the piece of jewellery.

"You should not have gotten me anything, Tony."

"You know, Ziva. Most people say thankyou when they receive gifts." he smiled, not willing to listen to her.

"It is too much."

"Well it's bought now. There is not much you can do but wear it forever." he continued, staring into her eyes. Though rainbows danced around the diamonds in the necklace, her eyes were sparkling a thousand extra watts.

"Thankyou, Tony." she smiled, breaking away from his gaze. If she continued to look into his eyes she could not guarantee that something would not happen. A small lapse in self control was all it took.

Across the room, Mark and John stood staring at the intimate moment shared by the two. Mark's breathing became rapid with fury.

"Alright, Mark…" John began, turning to face his friend. "Mark?"

Mark stood staring furiously as he watched his fiancée share something with the one man she'd promised to keep a safe distance from. Anger boiled inside of him as he took a step forward, ready to kill the man taking his Ziva away from him. He cracked his knuckles and picked up his pace, stopping suddenly as his dinner jacket caught on something. He spun to loosen it and found John holding onto him, his brown eyes furious.

"Let me go." Mark ordered in a low voice.

"What are you trying to do? You are not helping anything. You'll just force her further into his arms."

"Well what do you suggest I do?" Mark hissed

"You stick to the plan." John readjusted his stance, standing up straight, professional again.

"And what is the plan?" Mark retorted with sarcasm thick in his tone.

"You call her away. I take his outside. You join us shortly." He answered in his calm, businesslike tone.

Mark nodded and walked toward his fiancée once he was sure her moment with Tony was over.

"Z?" He called, rounding the corner.

Ziva forced a smile and walked over to Mark, coiling her arms around his waist.

"Care to dance, my love?" he asked, kissing her on the cheek, his smile every bit as forced as hers.

"Yes." She answered, her eyes not leaving Tony's.

Without another word she was lead away and Tony was left standing on his own. His heart pounded against his chest and his throat was thick. Jealousy pulsed through him angrily and he punched the wall lightly, resting his head against it.

"ahem." Tony jumped as he realised this spectacle was being observed by someone. He spun around, surprised to find he had no idea who the person was. "Hi, Anthony, is it? My name's John I was wondering if I could show you something outside." It was more of a statement than a question.

"Umm actually--"

"It will only take a minute. I couldn't help but notice the mustang you were driving…" John cut him off, not willing nor able to take no for an answer.

"Alright." Tony sighed, following the man out. The two walked through the front doors letting the cool, wet air freeze them as it juxtaposed with the warm from inside the functions building.

Tony stopped dead and his gut kicked into hinky mode as he John walked straight past his car.

"My car is right here." Tony said, pointing to the shiny mustang.

John turned around, a sinister smile on his face. "I know that."

Tony turned to walk off, not willing to get into a fist fight on Ziva's night, and realised the two were not alone, from the shadows three huge unarmed men appeared and advanced.

Tony reached for his sidearm and internally cursed himself for not wearing it tonight of all nights. With not more to do he clenched his jaw and got ready.

Suddenly John grabbed him and put his arms into a lock.

"Can I help you… John?" Tony asked with his usual charm

"You can't help me but you can do my a favour…" he began, tightening the arm lock "… Keep away from Ziva."

A small laugh broke through Tony's lips, quickly cut off by a blow to the stomach by one of the other three men.

"Greg, get the hell outta here. We only needed you to round him up." John scolded. "I'll throw the punches."

Greg grumbled and clicked his finger once, calling his goons away.

"How do you suggest you keep me away from Ziva? In case no one told you, we kind of work together." Tony all but laughed.

John was about to say something but was cut off by the arrival of Mark, his eyes tight.

"Let's make this quick I gotta get back to Ziva."

He walked over to Tony and leaned down to his level, his anger escalating as a smile remained planted on Tony's face.

"Do you like Ziva's wedding dress?" he spat.

"Well--"

Tony was cut off by Mark's knee in his stomach.

"You would know - you were there."

He kneed him again before Tony had a chance to respond.

"Keep away from her." he whispered, bringing his knee up to Tony's groin with such force he blanked out for a few seconds.

John laughed and dropped Tony like he was a sack of potatoes.

"let's get back." Mark smiled and turned away, followed closely by John.

Tony lay on the ground fighting unconsciousness. What was he going to do about that? He couldn't tell Ziva - what was he going to say? 'Hey Ziva, your stupid fiancé beat the living crap out of me and I let him.' He could not say anything to her about it. All he could do was lie and consider the many ways to destroy the man.

Starting with no more Mr Nice Guy.

XXX

**I hate Mark.**


	22. Two Days

I am so sorry for the late update, seriously. I won't get into the excuse, I'll just hump right into the chapter:

**Chapter 22: No more Mr Nice Guy**

"Yo, Ziva." Tony shouted across the bullpen, throwing a large, scrunched up wad of paper at her head.

Ziva lifted her head and shot him a half deadly, half annoyed glance and continued with her work.

"Read it" he called to her, a goofy smile planted on his lips.

Ziva rolled her eyes and bent down to collect the wad of paper, she opened it and sighed, throwing it back at him with as much force as could be given to a ball of paper.

"What?" he asked, that same smile on his face.

"I am not telling you what I did for my 'hen's' night, DiNozzo." she said

"Hey" Tony threw his arms up in defence "I don't want to know 'what' you did, I want to know who you did."

"you won't be doing anyone anytime soon unless you have something for me, DiNozzo." Gibbs stated as he marched into the bullpen, stopping at Tony's desk.

"Um… I - uh, Lawson--"

"Got something, Boss." McGee interrupted, before Gibbs had the chance to neuter Tony.

"Do you want me to pay you for it, McGee?" Gibbs asked, turning his death glare on McGee.

"uh. No. Um, The day before he was murdered, Lawson checked out of the conference for three hours"

"And." Gibbs said impatiently

"And you'll never guess he called seven times in those three hours."

Gibbs stood still, staring daggers at McGee.

"Michelle Sanders."

"DiNozzo, David, bring her back. Don't tell her what it's about." he ordered as he pulled a dollar from his pocket and threw it on McGee's desk.

XXX

"So how is this guy?" Tony asked, staring out the window casually as he watched the trees fly past at the speed he was now fairly used to.

Ziva snapped her head up, not watching the road "What Tony?"

"You know." he said, turning to face her "In bed." he smiled.

Her eyes narrowed slightly until she decided to play the situation. "Yeah he is very good." she smiled.

"Better then me?" he asked, releasing the full force of his eyes.

Ziva laughed. Of course he wasn't better then Tony - Tony was the best she'd ever experienced in her whole life but she didn't need to tell him that.

"Was I better then Jeanne?" she asked.

"Na-uh Ninja chick!" He pointed at her "I asked first!"

Ziva rolled her eyes "But I'm the lady" she smiled "Ladies first."

"Pfft. You're not a lady." he waved his hand at her.

Ziva's eyes narrowed.

"You're more like super girl or cat woman - they aren't _ladies_" he corrected himself, suddenly fearing for his life.

"that's not an answer." she noted.

"Well. I'm not answering unless you answer me first."

"Then I guess you're not getting an answer." she smiled mischievously

There was silence.

"Alright fine." Tony yelled, exasperated "Yes."

"Aha!" Ziva smiled triumphantly "Yes what?"

"Yes you were better then Jeanne."

Ziva laughed at this, very pleased with herself. Her heart rate started to speed up - she was not expecting him to tell her who was better let alone tell her it was her. She knew how much he loved Jeanne and approximately how many times they 'did it.'

"What about me?" Tony asked, now more curious then ever and nervous that he was about to find out for sure.

She just kept smiling, staring at the road ahead of her.

"Ziva!" Tony groaned

"Yes agent DiNozzo?" she was having fun and Tony knew it.

"Who was better out of me and Mark?"

She thought about this, pretending that she was giving it a lot of thought though the answer was literally right in front of her.

"um. Well it's hard to say…" she was just plain teasing him now. "I think I'm gonna have to say… you."

Tony smiled hugely and threw his hand above his head with his fist clenched, celebrating.

"Yes!"

The moment was rudely interrupted then by Tony's cell ringing he glanced at the called ID and brought the phone to his ear.

"It's McGee…Anthony DiNozzo, sex machine." he answered.

"They still calling you that, DiNozzo?" Came the voice of a rather unimpressed Gibbs on the other side of the line.

"that's a good one boss… We're almost at Sanders' --"

"No need." Gibbs interrupted.

"Boss?"

"Michelle Sanders has just confessed to the murder of Commander Eric Lawson. Go home, get some sleep - it's been a rough few days--" Gibbs said then hung up, clearly in a better mood after finally getting a confession out of the woman dragging down their investigation.

"Oh." Tony closed the phone and smiled lightly, turning to Ziva. "We are going to get a drink."

"What about Sanders?" Ziva asked, already turning the car around to return to NCIS.

"Confessed."

"It should not be that easy." Ziva frowned as she stepped down on the gas pedal and surged the car forward.

"Evidently it is. Now let's get some alcohol into you, maybe we can even see if we can re live the hen's night with Ziva David and her many friends…"

"I went out with Abby - that hardly counts as a 'hen's' night.' Ziva interrupted.

Tony simply smiled smugly, turning to stare out the window

"Yeah, we'll see…" he mused.

XXX

"Do, two days before your wedding… How's that treating ya?" Tony asked, taking a large sip of beer.

"Not well." Ziva responded, downing her fresh shot of tequila. "Rehearsal is tomorrow night and I have no idea what I am doing…"

"Well Ziva, that would be why it's a 'rehearsal' and not the actual thing…" he responded, raising his hand for more alcohol.

"No, Tony. You are driving me home - I think you've had enough." she stopped him, slurring only slightly. Ziva David was a fairly composed drunk and even some people could not tell she was gone however Tony could tell.

"I've only had one!" he argued. "And who says I'm driving, anyway?"

Ziva simply looked at Tony with what would be a threatening glance if she had not wobbled slightly.

"I'm driving you home." he nodded, taking the final sip of his drink before standing up, holding his hand out for Ziva.

"My home or…" Ziva began, moving closer to Tony, her eyes smouldering "Your home?" she winked.

"ah…" Tony laughed uncomfortably in response, leaning back as she leant forward. "… I'll surprise you…"

Ziva smiled flirtatiously and brushed past him, walking toward the exit of the bar.

XXX

"Alright, here we are… Surprise." Tony smiled as he pulled up outside Ziva's apartment building.

"boun qui… See you tomorrow, eight hundred hours, you know where…" she slurred, climbing out of the car.

She walked toward her building, fiddling through her bag to get her keys, she looked up from her bag and saw Tony walking next to her.

"Changed your mind?" she asked, opening the door to the lobby.

"making sure you're okay." he corrected.

Ziva nodded and kept walking in silence until she reached her apartment door. "Well I am safe." she smiled, pushing the door open "Changed your mind?"

"Well --" Tony began, cut off by Ziva's lips crushing against his. Ziva opened the door with such force it made a loud crashing noise. The light flicked on and Tony pushed away from her, his eyes locked over her shoulder.

"what is it?" Ziva asked, turning around to find Mark standing behind her, his face livid.

"Good evening, Ziva…Anthony." he smiled without humour.

XXX

**Sorry for the shitness of this chapter - I promise I'll update tomorrow and I will redeem myself. **

**Again, words can't describe how sorry I am. **

**Xox Mel**

**Check out: **

**NCIS: complicated by jfine**

**Empty by meira.xx**


	23. What you want

**Why hello there! :P**

**Thankyou all for the awesome reviews, you actually have no idea how happy they make me - one of them made me smile so much that my mum gave me one of the weirdest looks she has EVER given me - and she's given me some pretty odd looks in the past. **

**Anyway, thanks again - sorry that this chapter is so short but it was one of those either really long chapters or really short two chapters. And I'm hoping that the following chapter is not too short. **

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter 23: What you want**

Mark's eyes did not leave Tony's as a long, tension filled silence engulfed the room. Ziva slowly crept forward, away from Tony, not willing to make things worse.

"I think I'd better leave." Tony said quietly, turning around slowly as to not aggravate Mark - Tony had been in his fair share of bad situations like these and he knew any sudden movements were never good.

"I think you should stay." Mark said, quietly and deadly.

Tony stopped and turned back to face the two, really not wanting to oblige. He smiled awkwardly and closed the door behind him, everything moving in slow motion though at the same time, too fast to keep up with.

"So Ziva…" Mark began again, turning to his fiancée.

"I am sorry, Mark. I did not know what I was doing. It has been a hard --"

"Do you still want to marry me, Ziva?" Mark interrupted her, his voice violent " 'Cause at the moment you have given me no indication that you love me. Do you want to marry me or do you want to be forced to leave?"

"What?" Tony asked, confused "Forced to leave where?"

Ziva joust her jaw and sent a shocked glance at Mark, inhaling shortly and sharply.

"Ziva, what is he talking about?" Tony asked again.

Ziva turned slowly to him, her expression blank. "I do not know what he is talking about."

"oh" Mark exhaled, his angry expression slowly melting into a smile which then became a low chuckle "You haven't told him, have you?"

Ziva's eyes narrowed and she hung her head slightly.

"Ziva." Tony asked again, his voice low "Tell me what?"

"didn't you ever wonder why me and Z were so eager to get married?" Mark interrupted, a smile still planted on his face. "You think she loved me that much?"

"I did love you that much!" She interrupted him "I do love you that much and I am still going to marry you."

Mark smiled, his blue eyes sparkling. He walked across the room and brushed his hand against Ziva's arm as he walked away. "I'll see you tomorrow." he laughed, walking out the room.

Ziva balled her fists and looked down, using all of her inner-strength to not beat Mark to a bloody pulp right there. The door closed gently and Ziva and Tony stood listening as Mark's booming laughter faded.

"What's going on, Ziva?" Tony asked eventually, looking up to meet his eyes to hers. "Why are you still marrying him?"

Ziva continued to stare at the ground, refusing to look into his accusing eyes. Tony moved closer to her until they were standing mere feet apart.

"I am marrying Mark because I love him." she answered, looking up into his eyes, her expression blank.

"Don't lie to me, Ziva!" Tony raised his voice, his face going from confused to angry in a second. "Tell me what he is talking about."

Ziva broke away from his gaze, her eyes glassy.

"About two months ago, I was informed… By my Father… that I was to return to Tel Aviv by October 20…" She began, looking up into his green eyes

"That's next Friday." Tony mused, gazing back to her.

"Yes…" she swallowed "If I marry Mark I am allowed to stay here - Gibbs is going to hire me as a full-time NCIS field agent. Do not you see, Tony? I have no choice. I am marrying Mark." she explained.

"But he's an ass." he interjected, moving closer.

Ziva laughed dryly in response. "Only when he is around you."

The room fell silent and Tony took a step closer to Ziva, he put his hand under her chin and directed her gaze to his eyes.

"You don't have to do this."

Ziva gazed into his eyes for what felt like hours, wishing that what he was saying was true. She shrugged herself away from his touch and took a few steps back.

"Yes I do, Tony. Don't you get it?"

"What I don't get is why you are giving up so easily!"

"I have no other choice! I have one week until I my position at NCIS is being terminated. It is too late to sit a test. It is too late to change anything… I have to marry Mark." she said softly, not a single tear escaping her glassy eyes.

"No you don't. You can marry anyone else! I'm sure Gibbs won't mind a fifth time."

"Who else, Tony? Who could I find in one week?" she asked, her voice raised.

Silence filled the room as Tony contemplated what she was saying. Could he marry her? Tony DiNozzo, married? He would prefer anything against her marrying Mark but her marrying him was a big mistake.

"Maybe…" he began, was he proposing?

"Do _you_ want to marry me?" she asked, shock clear on her face as she watched his face contemplate what she was saying.

He lifted his gaze slowly until he met her melting chocolate eyes, he glanced at her through his brow and sighed, lowering his head again.

"No…" he sighed.

"Well…" Ziva began softly "Then I have no choice."

Tony opened his mouth to answer but quickly shut it, walking out of her building without another word, leaving behind a broken Ziva.

XXX

Tony woke up to loud knock at his door - he glanced over to his clock and saw it was 0800 hours. He groaned and muttered incoherently as he walked to his front door. He peeped through the eye hole and cursed silently upon seeing Mark standing outside his apartment.

"Didn't need this on a Saturday." he muttered and pulled the door open, still half asleep. "What do you want, Mark?" he asked, balling his fists - ready this time.

"Relax, I'm not here for a fight." Mark said, entering the apartment without a formal invitation - yet again.

"Come on in." Tony said to the now empty doorway.

"Nice place you got here--"

"Yeah, you've seen it now what the hell is this about?" Tony interrupted.

"What else would it be about?" Mark smiled bitter sweetly.

"What about her?"

"I just wanted to make sure you were still coming to the wedding." Mark asked, a fake smile on his lips.

Tony stared at him, shooting daggers into his eyes. "I don't think it would be such a… 'hot' idea if I came." he said, raising his eyebrows on 'hot'

"That's what I thought." he replied, looking at the ground. "Look, Anthony, I hate you - I'm pretty sure I've made that clear in the past - but I love her and so I'm not going to kill you right now, I'm just warning you that if you do anything to hurt our relationship one more time…"

"You'll what?" Tony asked, raising his hand to his ear with mock enthusiasm "You'll kill me? You'll break my legs? What could you possibly do to me that would hurt less than what your '_fiancée_' has already done to me?" he yelled, moving closer to his foe.

"Just making sure…" Mark said quietly, turning to walk out of the apartment.

"Oh, and Mark?" Tony called to his back "if you do anything to hurt her, and I mean anything… You will pay for it."

"Yeah, got it." He nodded, waving over his shoulder "and Anthony, thanks for stepping aside for me, I thought I would have to fight you right here."

"… goodbye Mark. Good luck on the wedding thing."

"yeah. See ya." Mark smiled and walked out the room

"Yeah…" Tony responded, staring at the ground as the door slammed behind him.

"Oh, and Tony?" Mark called as the door opened again behind him. "Just out of curiosity - how come you gave up? I mean, you were so close…"

Tony continued to stare at the ground, his back turned toward Mark. "apparently you can give her something that I can't…" he answered.

XXX

**Hope it wasn't too upsetting this part - Tony doesn't usually give up so I hope that kind of shows how not ready he is for marriage. I mean, it's a big thing!  
Here's a thought, I kind of know where to go next but I would still like some suggestions if it's not too much trouble. **

**MorbidMandy, You could never annoy me. **

**Check out:**

**Kingdom Crossover by Aureate Cay leaf (Aureate Cayleaf, honestly is a phenomenal writer - even if you don't like the idea, check it out anyway because she makes it work and the writing is mesmerising. (sorry - Literature nerd here))**

**Cause honestly, who doesn't love Disney?!**

**If you don't love Disney you are going to have to come over to my house and we will watch all the classics until you love it. That's all there is to it.**

**More tomorrow!! **

**Xox Mel**


	24. Something I can't

**OHAAIII there!! And guess what??**

**IT'S TOMORROW! IT'S TOMORROW! IT'S TOMORROW! IT'S TOMORROW! IT'S TOMORROW! IT'S TOMORROW! IT'S TOMORROW! IT'S TOMORROW! IT'S TOMORROW! IT'S TOMORROW! IT'S TOMORROW! IT'S TOMORROW! IT'S TOMORROW! IT'S TOMORROW! IT'S TOMORROW! IT'S TOMORROW! IT'S TOMORROW! IT'S TOMORROW! IT'S TOMORROW! IT'S TOMORROW! IT'S TOMORROW! IT'S TOMORROW! IT'S TOMORROW! AHHHHHH! **

**NCIS SEASON 6! I love it. :P:P **

**Anyway, thanks for the great reviews. **

**Here is:**

**Chapter 24: Something I can't**

The shriek of Uma Thurman came loud through Tony's surround sound speakers as she held her stomach, waking up from the long coma only to realise that the baby she once had was gone.

A loud knock at the door pulled Tony away from the movie, he leaned forward and pressed the stop button, letting the screen go black.

The knock came again, this time louder - the person on the other side of the door clearly impatient.

"Yeah, coming." he grumbled to himself, running his hand through his hair as pulled the door open to find a very unhappy Abby McGee. Before he had a chance to say anything to her, she was already inside his house with her hand crashing down on his head hard enough to contest an angry Gibbs.

"umm… Ow?" he rubbed his head, flinging the door shut behind him.

"Where the hell were you tonight, DiNozzo?" Abby asked, crossing her arms, shooting daggers into his eyes.

"Look, Abs. I really don't want to hear it." he sighed, slumping down onto his sofa. The last thing he wanted to do was go to that rehearsal dinner, he already felt bad enough.

"Well you're gonna." she snapped, sitting parallel to him "You don't know how upset you made Ziva"

Tony looked at the ground. And sighed. "Abs… do you know why she's marrying him?"

"Because… she loves him…"

"She's being deported." he said, looking up through his lashes into her shocked eyes.

"What are you talking about?" she asked sitting up, a new curiosity in her eyes.

"Deputy Director _David _has called her back to Mossad… She has until next Friday to get citizenship here." he explained.

Abby's eyes widened and she relaxed back into the sofa. "Why doesn't she just take a test?"

"It's too late."

"Well even so, what difference does it make?" she asked

"She has to marry him or she's kicked out of here."

"But she was going to marry him anyway - what difference does it… ohhhh" Abby faded out, suddenly realising what the problem was "So you're just going to let her marry this other guy?" she asked, standing up.

"What choice do I have?" Tony asked, standing so he was at her level. "She can't marry me."

"Why not?" Abby interrupted, the anger in her eyes fading.

"What?"

"Why not? It's not like it means everything, it's just to keep her here." she pressed on, her lips turning up at the sides to form a small smile.

"Abby… I'm not ready for something like that. And even if I was, how would we get Ziva to agree to it?" he asked, his mind dizzy. Could he Marry her just to keep her in the country? A huge part of him was screaming that it was a stupid idea but his heart thudded against his chest, like each beat was turning it into a good idea.

"Oh my God…" Abby mused, going quiet. "You have no idea, do you?" She asked, suddenly angry again. She leaned forward and hit him on the back of the head for the second time.

"What?" he asked, pulled out of his marriage thought spiral.

"The way she feels about you…. Tony, I don't know if you've noticed but this is killing her. She wants to be with you…" Abby explained. She realised that she didn't know for a fact if this was what Ziva actually wanted but Tony needed all the encouragement she could give him and he didn't need to know that it was a possible fabrication.

"If she wants to be with me then why--"

"Why is it her job all the time? Was is it with you two?" she asked, the anger returning for round three, it was time for her to say all the things she had always wanted to say to him. Abby was not one to keep her mouth shut and her words under control however Tony and Ziva's weird relationship was the only exception to that rule. "You are always putting what you think the other person should want in front of what you really want - just do what you feel is right for once, Grow up. Screw everyone else. Gibbs isn't gonna fire you. The timing is always wrong."

Tony stood, listening to the Goth. She was right. The timing was always out with them, every time one of them wanted something to happen the other was always not in the mood to cooperate. She was right.

"Well maybe it's just too hard. Maybe the timing is out for a reason." he suggested.

"DiNozzo, you think that me and McGee got together again by just waiting around for the 'timing' to be right? You have to create it yourself if you want it to work." she said, glad that she could pass some marriage wisdom on to him.

"Abs…" Tony sighed, not she was saying was right. It was the truth but still something did not feel right.

"Tony…" She said, staring into his eyes, her's begging back at him. "Ziva is getting married tomorrow. If you are going to make your own timing you have to start now."

Tony opened his mouth to say something but closed it, realising there was no way around it, she knew what she was talking about and he knew better than to ignore what she was saying.

Abby broke off from the intense gaze and threw her arms around him.

The two remained in the embrace for a few minutes until finally Abby pulled away.

"So I'll see you at the wedding?"

"Bright and early" he smiled weakly in return, still not sure if it was a good idea. "Thankyou, Abby."

XXX

Ziva lay on her back staring at her roof, trying to make shapes out of the shadows cast onto it from the windowsill, her mind going around in circles of Tony until finally she decided that she would not be able to sleep. She got out of bed and walked to her wardrobe, throwing on the first pair of pants her hands touched and a gray 'NCIS' hoodie.

As she went to close the wardrobe, a large white garment protector caught her eye, she unzipped it and stood back, taking in the beautiful wedding dress.

The dress she bought with Tony.

The dress that reminded her more of Tony than it did of Mark.

She closed her eyes and exhaled, opening them slowly as she zipped up the protector.

Allowing her legs to let go off the weight of the rest of her body, she fell into a crumbled ball on the floor, fighting to keep her emotions in check.

Without another thought on the subject she got up and began to run, she sprinted out of her apartment and ran to her car. When she got to her mini she decided to keep going on foot, she needed to run, needed to get away from everything.

Ziva ran for a few hours, not keeping track off time, nor of the direction she was running in. Finally she stopped at a familiar building. She stood at the gate staring at it intently, wondering why the hell she had brought herself here. She checked the time and was surprised to see it was just after 0300 hours. She rubbed her brow and exhaled, tossing and turning whether or not to go inside or make another run for it.

Finally she got a hold of herself and backed away slowly, she could not do it to him again, how was she expecting it to end anyway? He had made it more than clear that he couldn't marry her, even if it did mean nothing - he wasn't ready for it.

Ziva turned and began to run away, the fact that she needed sleep finally dawning on her as a soft mist of rain began to fall on her. She decided to cut through a nearby park on the way back instead of taking the shorter route, she still wasn't ready to go home. Once inside the park she slowed to a walk, her stomach churning with built up angst, her heart breaking under the pressure of the blood it was pumping.

As she walked, the rain got harder until it was raining steadily. Ziva spotted a nearby rain-soaked wooden bench and collapsed onto it, for the first time feeling the pain that shot through her over worked muscles.

She buried her head in her hands, leaning forward so the rain was dripping down her back.

"Ziva?" A familiar voice pulled her back into reality. She snapped her head up and saw a rain-soaked Anthony DiNozzo staring at her in the dark morning, curiosity in his eyes. "What are you doing here?"

XXX

**Sorry to do that to you but it seemed necessary. **

**Anyway, one sad note, it looks like I should be done before the NCIS season 6 premier tomorrow night because I've only got one chapter to go. And I'm happy that season six is here but I'm also so sad to be finishing this.  
****Seriously, I think I'm going to cry.  
****But I won't say my goodbyes yet - I've still got a whole chapter 25 to say my farewells. **

**Anyway, hope you liked the chapter! **

**Xox Mel**

**ALSO CHECK OUT: **

**Out of the closet by M E Wofford **

**Just a bit of fun Tiva!! :D:D It's very good to laugh along to after all the angst! Seriously, check it out. :P  
Oh and by the way, incase no one got that - the movie That Tony was watching at the start of this chapter was 'Kill Bill part one'**


	25. Unlike last time

**Hello to everyone for the last time. Thankyou all so much for the awesome time I've had with this fic. I hope the last chapter lives up to all your standards. **

**My Final suggestion, and this is one that's been going for a while now:**

**The Parent Trap by Kandon Kuuson. **

**As well as that, however you should also check out the 4 fics by arashichaser in the Pre-Premier Fic-a-thon.**

**For the last time. Here is:**

**Chapter 25: Unlike last time**

It took Ziva a moment to register what was going on. She glanced down at her watch which read 3.35 am and then back up to Tony. Finally, she stood up, squinting to see him properly in the darkness.

"I could ask you the same question, yes?" she responded.

"Touché." he nodded and smiled weakly, squinting in the darkness. "but I live near here…"

"I could not sleep." she answered "you?"

"Yeah." Tony began, "Something like that." he finished, taking a few steps forward, his feet squelching as the terrain changed from gravel to grass.

Without arguing, Ziva followed him through the park until the two were under the cover of a tin gazebo.

"so…" he drifted off, having no idea what he could say to her. "how's--"

"Tony." Ziva interrupted abruptly "What are you doing here really?"

Tony stared into her eyes, wishing he had the guts to say the things that Abby had made saying look so easy. His stomach flipped in circles and his mind shouted at him to tell her but he couldn't; every time he opened his mouth, it felt as though something was pressing against his throat, making it impossible to get the words out.

"I couldn't sleep." he said quietly, telling only half of the truth. The real story was, he couldn't sleep so he was staring out of his window until he caught Ziva as she walked underneath a street lamp and on a thoughtless whim he chased after her.

Ziva nodded, knowing he wasn't telling the truth though not bothering to pursue it.

"…I better go." she said softy, stepping out of the gazebo and into the dark rain.

"Wait, Ziva." Tony called, running down the stairs after her.

"What?" she asked, turning around, sleep deprivation finally getting the better of her.

"I've been thinking…" the pressure on his throat returned. It was on the tip of his tongue but he couldn't say it. He could not put himself on the line. It was too big a jump. He wanted to kill himself, why couldn't he do this?

"About what?" she asked, her heart racing a mile a minute.

"um… do you want to stay at my place tonight? That way you don't have to go all the way home. I got a shower and dry clothes for you." he said, mentally murdering himself. 'Chicken' his mind yelled at him.

Ziva glanced down. Of course she wanted to go to his place. She wanted to stay at his place permanently. But she couldn't, could she? Her mind flickered back to that day when she had ruined everything. Her arms coiling around Mark's waist, the anger and hurt in Tony's eyes. She had brought this upon herself and still, even though she was marrying one of the most perfect men in the world, she wanted Tony. She wanted to stay with him forever - and in a way she was staying with him forever, by marrying Mark she was staying at NCIS however a part of her - her heart - wished more than anything else in the world that Tony would be the one willing to keep her in the country.

"ah. I better go, actually…" she answered quietly, turning her back on him, transitioning into a full-blown sprint before he had a chance to change her mind.

Tony stood watching Ziva sprint off, the pressure disappearing from his throat as he whispered "Let me be the one to fix this." into the cold night.

He stood staring into the darkness, his mind drifting back to that day when he had ruined everything. Those four stupid words.

'just like last time.'

XXX

Ziva opened her eyes slowly, squinting in the sudden light. Almost on cue, the shrill, ear piercing screech of her alarm rang through the room, causing her to sit bolt upright, her hair pulling away from the plastered position it had assumed throughout the course of the rough night.

She leaned over and hit the alarm off her bedside table, running a hand through her stiff hair.

"urgh" She moaned, rolling out of bed. She climbed into the shower, her mind a groggy mess and washed and dried her hair, sticking to the 'hair dresser's' orders… Well, Abby's orders. Somehow Abby had talked Ziva into letting her do her hair at the promise that no scissors were involved.

She walked out of her bathroom wrapped in a towel and into her bedroom, surprised to see every different type of cosmetic and hair appliance lay out on every single surface the room contained, a Goth sitting in the middle of it with a cheeky smile on her face.

"You should lock your door, Ziva." She stated, shooting a glance to the pile of wet clothes from last night.

"Oh. That um--" she tried to explain

"Didn't ask." Abby interrupted, for once in her life not wanting to know what was going on. Obviously the wedding was still on so that meant Tony was still not going to grow up and out of his stupid fear of commitment. Abby shook her head subtly to herself, she thought he would change for Ziva. "Let's start this thing, we've got a lot to do and only 4 hours to do it in. But don't worry, Ziva; I do my best work under pressure." she smiled.

Ziva nodded and walked over to her friend.

"Alright." she began "Let's get this over with."

XXX

Tony sat at his dining table with a glass of water and a couple of Tylenol. He threw back the mixture and glanced up to the clock, rubbing his forehead at threat of a fresh headache. It was 11.30. Ziva was getting married in half an hour. His heart began to race and his stomach swooped. Was this it? Was he just going to let her go? The potential love of his life?

No.

He shook that off. She wasn't the 'potential love of his life' how sappy was that? She was just a girl.

He stopped there, thinking back to something she had said to him once. It was on a case they worked on a few years ago, an FBI agent on her first field assignment had joined with the team to catch a man who could change people's identities. She was attractive, a new girl after Jeanne.

"… It would be nice but she is just a girl…" Ziva had said to him "The new Tony needs a woman… At least I though he did."

And she wasn't just a girl

She was a woman.

She was the woman that he needed.

"Oh God." Tony whispered to himself. How had he been so blind as to not realise what she was saying back then? She had been hinting things all along. How could he have missed that? He had to grow up. Abby was right - Kate was right. He had to get over this commitment thing.

He stood up and walked to his wardrobe, pulling out one of his best wedding suits and a blue silk tie. He threw it all on in record time and went into his bathroom to quickly gel his hair into a disarray.

Tony smiled at his reflection against the microwave door that sat on his kitchen counter as he grabbed his car keys and ran out the door, glancing at his watch as he locked it behind him.

"20 minutes."

XXX

Ziva sat in her preparation tent, staring into her own glorious reflection. Abby had done a fantastic job on her hair and make up. Her dark brown hair was pieced intricately to match the soft beading that subtly curved along the dress, placed obscurely to fall over her left shoulder. Her make up was soft but perfect as was the dress. For once, everything was going exactly to plan and for the first time, she didn't want it to. She glanced outside, a dark cloud forming and darkening the room.

"Are you ready, my dear?" Came the soft, gravely voice of Donald Mallard, pulling Ziva from her trance as a fine mist of rain began to collect on the window. She stood up and turned around with a large huff of breathe and a fake smile.

"Yes. Ducky. Thankyou." she said, wrapping her arm around his outstretched one.

"And might I add you look rather stunning." he added, leading her into the foyer where Abby and McGee stood with other various bridesmaids and groomsmen.

Before Abby had a chance to blurt something out incoherently, a soft instrumental strumming came from inside, sending Ziva's stomach swooping in regret. She was not doing the right thing. All of a sudden she had the urge to run again - to take Tony up on his offer of staying at his house. She couldn't do this.

"Ready?" Ducky whispered, pulling Ziva out of her thought spiral to see it was her turn, the bridal party already down the isle.

"Um, Ducky, I--"

"Ziva." a low and out of breath voice called from behind.

Ziva spun around to find Tony gazing into her eyes, his green eyes sporting a tinge of gray.

"Anthony, we really must--"

"Sorry Ducky, can I please talk to the bride for a second?" he asked, turning to the ME. Ducky sighed and walked away, deciding it was pointless to protest though he did not agree and he knew everyone was waiting for them.

Ziva wanted to say something but she couldn't, she had no idea how to close her mouth let alone find her voice.

"Ziva. I'm so sorry about the timing of this whole thing. I realise if I was man enough to do this a while ago we wouldn't be in this mess…" he began, smiling in a weak attempt to bring a bit of light heartedness into the moment. The smile faded slowly and he cleared his throat, trying to ease the awkwardness of the silence.

"The timing was never right for us, Tony. Why would now be any different?" Ziva asked, staring at the ground.

"You know, Ziva…" he began, swallowing "Someone once told me that you can't just wait around for timing to fix a situation… sometimes if you want something to work you have to create the timing yourself…"

"Another movie?"

"Actually, it was a McGee… Maybe the Probie could use some of his wife's assistance in his next book." he smiled back. "Anyway, I got to thinking and I realised that there is no time left. This is it. This is all I could create for us."

Ziva moved her gaze up slowly until her glassy eyes were staring straight into Tony's. She held the gaze for a few seconds and lowered her eyes again.

"I understand…" she said softly "I am sorry for everything, I--"

"But what if that's not enough for me, Ziva? What if I want to grow up? What if I want to fix this myself?" he asked, staring at the roof. If one thing hadn't changed it was the way they interacted with each other in intimate situations - always one wanting to run off.

"What are you talking about, Tony?" Ziva asked, turning around to stare into the large room where a lot of guests were getting incredibly restless.

"I want to be the one to fix this… Ziva, I want you to marry me." he said, his heart thumping in his throat. He was doing it - he was putting his heart on the line. And even if he was taken down, he was taken down swinging.

Ziva snapped her gaze to his eyes and stared in blatant disbelief. "What?" she mumbled, having trouble grasping her words.

"Come on Ziva, we can fix this - if it doesn't work I think Gibbs has a divorce lawyer he could recommend." he smiled, still managing to make jokes that could get his head whacked off at a time like this. "… What do you say?"

"What the hell are you doing here, Anthony?" Came a booming voice from behind, pulling Tony and Ziva out of their own little world.

"Oh hey there, Marky." Tony smiled as Mark's eyes went bloodshot from anger.Without thinking he rushed forward and pulled his arm back, ready to get a good swing at him. Tony stood openly, ready for the blow. Mark swung his arm forward and Tony braced for the hit, a loud crunching noise rang through the small lobby and Tony opened his eyes to find Mark writhing in unconscious pain. He turned to Ziva who stood over him, a small drop of blood on her stark white shoes.

"Is that a yes?" Tony asked, looking deep into her eyes.

"That is a yes." she nodded and ran to him, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him with more emotion and passion than she had ever kissed anyone with. Tony braced her back with a hold strong enough to never let go and deepened the kiss further before it slowed and the two broke away, breathing heavily as their foreheads rested against each other.

"You know something, David?" Tony asked with a dumb smile.

"What?"

"This is nothing like last time."

XXX

**Well as I'm uploading this it is only a few hours until the NCIS season 6 premiere. Can you believe it? It feels like a lifetime ago that season 5 ended and finally we're here! (it was a long countdown, am I right?) But -as NCIS fans- we all know the wait will be well worth it. Umm… I really don't know how to say goodbye to everyone who has been reading this story - I realise it's just a fic but in a really sad way (sad as in pathetic, not emotional) I feel like it's more than that because of all the support I've had throughout the entire thing. I mean, this is so pathetic on my behalf but I may actually cry… This is what I get for writing at 12.19am. Anyway, I have no way to explain to you how grateful I am for the reviews or how I could even begin to thank you all for actually giving my writing a chance cause writing is one of my 3 passions (NCIS and film the other) and for every review I get, my self esteem goes up a little more as well as my pride in my work. Thankyou so much to everyone who took the time to read this because I can't tell you what it even begins to mean to me. Thankyou also, for helping out with the thing I promised to put away and never speak of again and that is the "Nat" situation :P Which still isn't sorted, by the way however I suppose that's a good thing because if I was in a good place with love this story would have ended about 15 chapters ago with Tony and Ziva riding off into the sunset together with no angst! :D:D hehe anyway, I can't believe it's over and I can't believe you've read this far because I'm just babbling now. **

**It's been one hell of a ride and I guess now there's nothing more left to say then:**

**I'll see you around. **

**Xox Mel aka ncisgirl101**


End file.
